Lost: A Hunger Games Parody
by MarvelLuver
Summary: This story began as a writing exercise for school. I'm homeschooled, so I decided to continue it. My wonderful Grandmother (and writing teacher) helped me with it. Rated T for implied swearing(no actual swearing), violence, and death. I based the characters off those from the book. Favorite, Follow, Review, and Enjoy! And, please, if you read, leave me a review :D!
1. Chapter 1

**Lost**

I wake up to seeing a bird perched in my window. The beautiful bird sings a wake up song to the others. I get up and dressed remembering that today is Saturday, the one day of the week Jason and I can really be alone, concealed in the woods. Of course he's only my friend, but at times I feel like he's more than that. Foolishness. I can't be thinking about that when I have such a busy life. My name is Maysilee Donner and I am 17 years old.

Every day I go to school, come home, hit the woods, bring home some game (deer, squirrel, possum, or rabbit), and feed my family. My mother died 3 years ago, but my father just sits in his old rocking chair, staring into space, mourning her. I am sick of it though! He has left me alone and having to take care of myself and my sister and my little brother that just yesterday turned 3. Sophie helps as much as she can, but being only 15, she can't do much except babysit Eli and make a small salad out of little plants that grow in our backyard. I will never let her risk going into the woods.

I have to go into the woods to hunt. I have a bow and 12 arrows that my father made me when I was 12. I am now almost 18

and use these wonderful weapons every day. During school my friend Jason's mother watches my brother Elijah while I'm at school with my sister Sophie, and when I go hunting after school Sophie watches him at home.

Jason lost his father in an accident in the woods one day. Jason, both our fathers, and I were in the woods hunting. I took down my first deer that day. We were lugging it home to present it to our mothers when we heard a slight buzzing noise coming from the oak tree standing in front of us. When we heard it, we stopped a second. Then Jason's father slowly moved an inch forward to take a look at the nest. But just that simple movement sent the Stingers into chaos, and they came out of that paper shell like it was nothing. Each sting from a Stinger could most certainly either kill you or if you were lucky just paralyze the place the sting went in.

These wasp-like bees are called Stingers. They can give out three stings before they die of lack of venom; venom is what keeps them going. That day they all swarmed out of the hive so quickly I didn't even have time to blink before I felt Jason's strong arm pulling me backward into the woods. We crashed through forsythia bushes and raspberry bushes, and then we literally ran into the pond. Water is the only thing that kills Stingers. If they touch you while you're wet, they're dead in seconds.

The whole time we ran through the woods with my father pressing at us to keep moving, Jason kept yelling, "Hurry Dad! Please!" Yet he never got a reply from his dad.

I was shocked by how quickly the day changed from my being prideful of my first deer, to Jason and me running for our lives from deadly Stingers.

I jumped into the cool water, and I surfaced and blew water out of my mouth. I saw Jason come up shortly after me, just in time to see my father barrel through the trees and into the pond.

I pulled my father's arm and yanked him out of the water. I asked him, crying and worried, if he was stung. When I was answered with a no, I flung myself into his arms and thanked the maker we were safe. Then I realized Jason's father wasn't there. I got out of the pond and looked over my bow and arrows. They were fine.

Then I heard my father say, "We need to go back and see if Jason's father's all right. He might have gone to the river, but we need to make sure."

Jason and I obediently and slowly followed my father through the woods. We got near the place with the broken nest on the ground. The Stingers were all gone. Not even one left. We went to the river. Nothing. We checked along the path for any sign of Jason's father, nothing.

Then, on the way to the small creek that could be the only other place he would have gone, we saw him, lying on the ground 3 feet away from the water. Stingers buzzed around his body. He was gone. Jason started crying as he turned and walked away from the scene. I followed behind him as he leaned against a tree, then slid down into a sitting position.

He pushed my hand away when I tried to comfort him. I started drying out but hardly cared or noticed at that point. Then there was a small movement in my shirt. I felt a sharp pinch in my shoulder. I was on the ground before Jason could catch me. I was out like a light. I only remember the dreadful look on Jason's face when he saw me fall to the ground.

I woke confused. What happened? Then I slowly remembered... I felt all right enough to open my eyes, but saw almost nothing until they focused on Jason. He was sitting on a chair next to me, and I was wrapped in a blanket in bed. He was almost ecstatic when I awake. I found out that I had been asleep for almost 3 days. I surprisingly only had gotten one sting, and the Stinger was probably weakened by the water.

Jason leaned in to me and gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead. I looked into his eyes, his dark hazel eyes. I realized he'd been awake for the entire time when I saw the bags under his eyes.

After that, he left my room and went home. I didn't see him until noon the next day when I insisted that I was well enough to go hunting for a while. He was sitting on an old oak branch that fell during a storm a few years before.

All that day we hunted through the woods, searching for game.

I never brought up that day again. Neither did he.

I have known he loves me for every second since that day. But I never will speak of that day because it brings back too much pain, especially for Jason.

Ever since then we have been feeding our families. My father and I did it for a while until my mother died of a Stinger that got stuck in my father's hunting jacket and didn't get out until my mother started washing it. She shook it and then in a second it was on her, stinging her cheek. She only had seconds to live. Three seconds after she fell to the ground, she was gone.

Now it's up to me and Jason to feed our families. Jason has two brothers and one sister. His younger brothers are twins and are only three. His younger sister is two and is so sweet that I melt like an icicle when I'm around her.

Jason and I took off for the woods early this morning, bringing a big game bag instead of my small one. Today is Saturday. We spend the entire day working our way deep into the woods. When we reach a small pond that must be spring fed, we stop to clean our game. I got three turkeys and two big geese. Jason got four turkeys and four geese. I finish cleaning my game first, so I wade up to my knees in the pond and splash my face clean. Jason comes and fills our canteens, and we sit there until early afternoon.

I tell Jason we should head back, and he doesn't object. We went further than usual today. We both go different ways. Then I say, "Jason, home's this way."

And he says, pointing in a different direction, "Uh, I thought we came from this way."

"Let's just go this way," I say.

He comes and we go for about an hour before we realize we're completely lost.

"Oh no," I say as we enter a giant meadow that definitely isn't on the way home.

I look to Jason, and he says something I didn't expect. "Guess this is where we're staying tonight." Then he points to the setting sun.

I find a nice oak tree to sleep in, but Jason tells me he's too big, and he could never fall asleep all the way up there. Then he says, "Maysilee, why don't you go curl up in your tree while I sleep on the ground?"

But this is obviously not going to end well. I think about all the predators that'll be looking for a meal. Then I burst out, before really thinking about it, "Look Jason, I understand it won't be comfortable, but you'll either do it, or I'll pull you up there in the middle of the night!" The look on his face says he's amused, but he does as I say and climbs up the tree.

"Don't think many Stingers could find us up here," I laugh, but soon see he is pointing up, far up in the tree. There is a lump on the side of the tree. I take a look and try to figure out what it is. It's a Stinger nest.

I see the terrified look in Jason's eyes and know that my worst fear has been confirmed. "Climb..." I hear Jason say in a quiet voice. "down..." he says.

"Duh, down," I say quietly. Then I swing my leg down and begin going down the large tree. I hear Jason following me.

I see Jason still climbing down just as I get to the ground. He is almost down when he puts his leg on a broken branch, and it snaps. The Stingers buzz and fly and attempt to sting the tree, until they find us.

I start running from the tree and right into a stream that's beside the meadow. I didn't even know it was here until I ran into it. I cover myself with the water and await Jason running in after me.

Seconds later he bursts through the tall grass from the meadow and into the water. A stinger is buzzing above the water, waiting for him to come back up. I kick it with my boot and it falls into the water.

"What are you trying to do? Kick me in the head?" Jason says coming out of the water.

"No!" I say. "Do you honestly think I would try to kick you like that?"

He laughs. "Well..." he says sarcastically.

Then we both laugh.

"Trust me, if I had been trying to kick you, you would've gotten kicked," I reply.

After a while, we decide it's probably safe to leave the pond.

"We should head back to that pond we cleaned the meat at, then we can go in the direction _that I _suggested," Jason says.

I suppress a smile. "Sure, I should've listened to you anyway," I say. "I'm terrible at judging direction."

"Not really," Jason says, then grabs my arm and pulls me around so that I'm inches from his eyes. "Which way is the pond now?" he says jokingly.

"You tell me," I say.

He laughs softly and lets me go.

We reach the pond and head in the direction Jason suggested earlier that day and continue on for a long time.

We come across a large oak tree, and I scale it to look around for anything that would signify that we're close to home. Nothing. Then I see something in a tree a few hundred yards away from where I am perched now. It can't be. I don't believe it. It's one of my tree stands! Something I made for hunting! That means we're literally about a mile away from home. I shout out in joy! I hear the slight sound of a cracking branch, but I ignore it.

"Jason! Look! My tree stan-..." I shout falling out of the tree.

I hit some branches on the way down, and then I hit the ground so hard it knocks every wisp of air from my lungs. Then the branch comes down after me, pinning my legs underneath it.

I try to grab at the branch, to push it off of me, but it's too big.

"Maysilee, wait." Jason puts his arms underneath the branch. "When I lift it, you slide out," he says.

"One... Two... Three!" he lifts the branch a few inches off my legs and I scoot out.

Once I'm out, he lets the branch go and it smashes against the ground.

"Are you okay?" he asks me.

I nod. "Thanks for...-" I motion to the branch.

He smiles, offering me a hand.

I take it and stand.

"Let's go home." I explain how I fell because I saw a tree stand and I point to it. We head in the direction of the markers we had built in this part of the woods and emerge in my backyard only to be met by a pair of official looking guards; they tell us we're being taken to prison.

I notice a pin that they both wear on their uniforms. It has a MockingJay being stabbed with an arrow on it. I have a pin. It has a MockingJay. But mine is flying and well, alive.

They are both men and both carry guns. I risk one question.

"Why are we being taken to prison, may I ask?"

The taller of the two answers, "You are disobeying the new laws. No one is allowed across the electrical fence."

Just then some guards move over with some barbed wire and seal up the woods opening we came through. New laws?! I have ALWAYS been able to hunt. What have they done to my world? I only left it for maybe a day. Now I can't hunt?!

"President Vincent will see you now," says the shorter man.

The taller man walks off. I guess he had some sort of meeting. We're left with just the shorter man.

"Wounded Deer," I say in a hushed voice.

Jason knows exactly what I'm talking about. If we shoot a deer, we have a system that we use to make sure we don't get hurt when we try to approach it. I go behind it and Jason goes in front. I jump on the unsuspecting guard and get him in a sort of headlock. Jason takes a length of rope from his pack and ties the man's feet and hands. We lug him into an old warehouse a couple yards in front of the woods and attach his ropes to an old pole.

"What's going on? We were here this morning, and there were absolutely no guards anywhere. Where the heck did you come from?!" I say furiously.

"The...state Capitol government. They made new laws, elected a new president, and made each state smaller and into what they now call districts," he says, obviously overwhelmed.

"You're gonna tell the authorities out there that we're innocent, or we'll slit your throat," says Jason holding the knife to his throat.

"Jason..." I say quietly and look right into his eyes. We both know he wouldn't ever hurt another living soul, but I decide to keep quiet just in case this guard is stupid enough to fall for Jason's little trick.

"All right! I'll do it! Please let me go!" he begs.

"Come on, let's get this over with," says Jason throwing an "I told ya' so" smile in my direction.

Jason unties his arms and feet. We walk outside and immediately some guards look at us, and then the guard says, "False alarm! They're good!" then walks away quickly.

Jason and I then walk into my house, and Sophie wraps her arms around me.

"You're okay! Where have you been!?" She starts crying in happiness.

"Maysie!" says Elijah.

"Jason and I got...a bit lost while we were hunting. We're fine." I say to calm Sophie down.

I pick Eli up and give him a hug. He wipes his snot-covered nose on my shirt.

"Gee, thanks buddy!" I say grabbing a towel.

"Dad," I say in a smooth tone, placing the towel on the table.

"Maysilee," he says in a detached voice.

Then the TV starts up by itself, and I'm looking at none other than a man that is introduced as President Vincent, the man who made all these changes, the man I hate. He took my woods away!

"Hello, I am your new president," he begins. I sit down in front of the TV, and I feel Jason's body tense behind me. "I will be in charge of the soon to be built Capitol city. Our brand-new country is very soon going to be named by our council!"

"There was a small incident with a boy and a girl breaking into the woods today. But I assure you they have been taken care of. Nonetheless, the new laws have been posted on every bulletin board and shop in the country. My guards have made sure of that. May I be the first to inform you all that any person who disobeys these laws will be prosecuted immediately." The program ends, and it's back to regular programs and commercials.

"Why are they doing this?" Jason asks.

"You don't think it was because we were hunting, do you?" I ask him.

"Maysilee, I'm not sure. But until we are, we all have to stay under the radar, obey the new laws." He says in an angry and sarcastic tone. "See you in the morning."

"Yeah, I guess," I say, equally annoyed.

When I awake the next morning, Sophie is sleeping next to me in my bed. I guess she was scared last night. I shake her awake.

"What is it?" She asks still half asleep.

"Could you watch Eli until I get back?" I ask her.

"Depends. Where are you going?" She asks demanding an answer.

"Just out to check out what's going on in town with Jason. I'll be back in an hour or so." I tell her.

"All right," she says.

I walk to Jason's house and knock on the door. He opens it, and we walk soundlessly down the street, not needing words to tell each other what we fear to find in town: a mob of people disobeying orders, a group of people holding signs that could say terrible things about our new leader. Maybe everyone is as afraid as us, and it will be completely silent and motionless.

We enter the town square and it's like an old silent movie. No one is talking. They all move from wherever they came from to the next place they need to go. People silently purchase milk and eggs from the farmers, wealthier people purchase candy and sugar from the bakery.

Jason and I take a seat on a bench and watch as the terrified people, watched closely by the new guards, attempt to go along with all the new rules.

"What are we supposed to do?" I ask him. I rest my head on his shoulder.

"Whatever we have to to stop this," he says.

"How?" I ask unconvinced.

"Start a war. I'm not living in fear, though it seems that everyone else is fine with it!" He says seriously.

The next day we wake and meet at a broken down tree that they must have taken down because it was in the way of the new fence. On the television this morning, we, our district was given a number. I guess it's our district number or something.

"Why 12?" Jason says as he walks over to the log where I'm already waiting.

"Oh, who cares?" I ask. I am honestly beyond caring.

"I do," he says.

"Why?" I ask him. "Why does it even matter?"

"Have you seen the latest announcement they tacked on the board?" He asks me as if taking his time to prepare me for something.

"Yeah. Wasn't it the thing about us being 12?"

"No, not that," he says.

"Then what?" I ask.

"Here look for yourself. I got a copy." He hands me a piece of paper.

_Come one, come all to the 1st Death Match of the districts! The Capitol citizens will, of course, be spared having to join! Two tributes, one girl and one boy, from each of the twelve districts will be brought before the Capitol to fight to the death! There will be one winner. Good luck to you all at the reaping! - Your very own President Vincent!_

I, at first, don't understand. Then Jason explains what he learned from the shopkeepers was that each district has to give one boy and one girl to the Capitol to play these awful games. In other words since Jason and I have just broken the law, we are almost guaranteed a spot.

"Wait. What does that have to do with our district number?" I ask him because they seem like two very different things.

"Well, the so called Capitol has promised the other districts, 1-10 food and riches until the reaping because the Capitol wants them better fed than the rest of us. They really don't want the district 12 "tributes" to win. Apparently we are the only districts that have disrespected the laws, so we have to suffer because of it. I think it's because Vincent hates us, but I could be wrong." He says sarcastically.

"But, why doesn't district 11 get food?" I say.

"Guess they did something bad too," he says obviously not caring about a district other than the one he's in.

"Yeah, guess so..." I say. But part of me thinks that district 11 will suffer far more in the games than us. Jason and I can work together well, but what if district 11 tributes can't? I honestly feel bad for them.

I wake up the next morning to Sophie feeding Eli dried plums. He's growing so fast. I haven't taken the time to notice him. But look at those little feet. I laugh at myself. I'm thinking about Eli's feet. Jason knocks at the door.

"It's open!" I yell.

"Hey, happy reaping." He says annoyingly.

"Oh, it'll be over soon. Come on watch the names flash up on the television. They've gotten to 11 already," I say.

He comes over and we watch.

The district 11 tributes will be a girl named Violet and a boy named Richard. They show Richard on television, and he has muscles bigger than my hands stretched out in a butterfly shape. He's gonna win...

District 12 is coming up. The girl will be...Maysilee Donner! The boy tribute will be Jason Woodlind!

Jason Woodlind! Jason. Me. I can't sort anything out for a moment. All my brain can conjure up is that I'm headed into an arena with Jason. Even if we're the final two, what would we do? I mean, on the television yesterday, President Vincent said only one would survive. I really don't think he was kidding. I just hope someone kills one of us before we get there.

Later today, a big metal train will roll into the district station, and I will have to get onto it and ride to the Capitol. Some people are saying that we've entered the "Dark Days," but, honestly, I don't feel like talking about it.

The train comes up to our shack of a station, and Jason and I give our families one last hug goodbye, and we're off. Hopefully we have someone good to train us, someone to whip us into shape the way they showed the district one and two "mentors" preparing their tributes on TV last night.

I see a man with short brown hair who got on the train with us and assume he's the guy. I tap his shoulder, and he flinches.

He then says, without even looking at us, "I can't help you. I'm just the only guy that caused enough trouble to get sent to the Capitol to mentor for these stupid games." I realize he's here because he got in trouble, just like Jason and I did.

"Look. We're going in their arena and you're gonna have to mentor us like the Capitol said. Neither of us have any choice." I say to try and calm him.

"Well, aren't you the brave one?" he says.

"What?" I ask.

"No one else would talk to me after I told them the reason I was here. Maybe that's cause you're here for something you did. Hm?" He asks me, demanding an answer.

What could it hurt? I don't have a chance in these games anyway.

"Jason and I hunted illegally back home. Got caught. What about you? What'd you do?" I want to know why he's been forced into the torture of mentoring two kids that are most probably going to die.

"I, I killed a guard. He came to my house early in the morning to inspect it, and I saw him carrying a gun. I ran down to my cellar and got my gun. I heard a shot. He killed my wife, so I shot him. I swear I'll do anything to destroy the Capitol for killing the one person in the world that actually had meaning to me."

We all stay silent for a long time.

"Then you'll help us?" Jason asks.

"Yeah, I'll get you ready. They trained me and the other mentors underground for the past few weeks, under this training center thing: how to hold a spear, shoot a bow. They even gave us advice to give to our tributes. You know, how to survive, timing of tribute gifts. But I have a decent idea of what to do." He says back. He starts walking to another car. Then he stops.

"What are tribute gifts?" I ask.

"During the Death Match if you're having trouble, I can send you certain gifts of medicine and food. I can't really tell you what they would be. The Capitol decides whether I'm even allowed to send anything. By the way. The name's Hagger. James Hagger. But if you call me James, I'll kill you." He says and walks away into the train.

Well, at least we have a chance now. I hope.

After many hours go by, the train stops and Jason and Hagger walk out. I follow them into a large, shiny building with windows on each floor. When we get inside it takes my breath away, hanging chandeliers, five people dressed in red serving some people at a table, and the most amazing smells coming out from this sliding glass door leading to a kitchen. We all get rooms with beds and warm covers and an unlimited supply of warm water from a faucet in the bathroom.

I wake up the next morning in my room/cell, and finally at 6am the door unlocks, and I'm free to move into the dining area for breakfast. Jason literally bumps into me when I open my door across the hall from him. I guess we both wake a lot earlier than the Capitol thought. After all, they wouldn't want the tributes escaping in the night since there aren't any guards on these tribute levels. He looks at me for a second then just starts down the hall to the dining room.

"What?" I ask.

"I just, hope Hagger can actually help us. I mean, if he can't, we can use bows and hunting knives, but on people?" he says.

"I don't wanna even think about that part yet. Okay?" I ask him. Because I really don't want to think about slitting someone's throat. Killing them.

"Why not? It's happening whether you want it to or not," he says.

"I just, I can't. I can't end a life." I tell him. Though I'm sure when the time comes, I'll kill just like everyone else.

"Get ready. It's gonna happen," he says. Then he walks away to get breakfast.

"Yeah. It's gonna happen." I whisper to the now empty hallways.

When I finally get to the dining room in the training building, Jason and Hagger are sitting at the table talking in hushed tones. But I decide to get food before I join them. I almost faint at the sight of the bounty awaiting me. There's enough food in front of me to last my family a year. This is just breakfast?! Man. Capitol people really DO have it easy. They not only don't have to send anyone into the arena, but they have unlimited food. They never have anything to worry about!

I eat a big bowl of thick broth. Then eat a huge helping of mashed potatoes and a chicken in a smooth sauce that has a hint of lemon that dances on my tongue. Then there's a glass of something sweet and orange. They say it's orange juice. There's also a mug of something thick and sweet.

"They call it hot chocolate. It's good," Jason tells me.

"It is good," I say after taking a small sip, then placing it back down to cool off since the warm chocolate burns my tongue.

Then Hagger finally decides to start asking us questions about our strengths and weaknesses. I tell him I can use a knife and bow. Jason says the same. Then he asks us if we want to be trained together or alone.

"What? Why would we train alone?" I ask.

"Say one of you has a special talent you don't want the other to know about." So Jason never told him that we wanted to be a team, allies? Hm.

"We're gonna ally." I say. Because I know this is what we both want.

"Ah," Hagger says.

"Well then, we'd better get started," Hagger says, as he leads us to the elevator at the end of the hall.

"We never talked about this." Jason whispers to me on the way to the elevator.

"I didn't think we needed to," I say.

"I mean you never asked me." He tells me.

"Wait a second!" I yell at him, stopping Hagger and making him look back.

"What is going on?" Hagger asks.

"Nothing. Just that I know who I'm killing first in the arena." I say and walk away into the elevator.

I walk into the elevator, and the tears are already pouring out of my eyes. Jason comes after me, and he wraps his arms around me, apologizing.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to talk about it," he says.

"But I never said I didn't wanna ally," he tells me.

"Well, are we?" I ask him.

"You know we are," he says.

I would have never killed him. I just, I thought he would want to ally without any question. I have to keep believing that we're on the same side. I can't do this alone.

We go down to the training area, and there are so many weapons that my breath is taken away: bows, mace, spears, slingshots, knives, axes, and all different kinds of arrows. There are even shooting ranges and targets, targets shaped like a human being.

"Where to first?" Jason asks Hagger.

"I would say you should use your training time to learn something you don't know. Throw a spear, learn some edible plants, and in case it wasn't already pretty clear, no berries! Not any! Never eat them if they're in the arena! They're all poisonous. Usually." Then he leaves, and it's just me and Jason left alone in the huge gym.

I throw a few spears, but it's apparent that spears aren't for me. I throw some knives and I'm about average, hitting the center only sometimes. I finally break down and use an hour at the archery station. It's wonderful. Moving targets that fly like birds, still targets that present no challenge. Jason and I then go to the edible plants station and learn about different spices and poisonous berries and things.

Then we go to the knot tying station where there are pamphlets about how to make snares and such, but Jason and I already know every snare known to man.

"So what'd you learn at school?" Hagger asks as he walks into the gymnasium.

"Well, neither of us are very good with spears, but we learned how to use these fancy Capitol bows and arrows, and we even did some knife throwing," Jason tells him.

"Good. Good. What about you?" He asks me.

"I, I didn't really learn anything. I knew most of it, but yeah the bows and arrows were just a bit different." I tell him.

"All right well, you're going into the arena tomorrow morning." he says.

So, my life will most likely be ending in the next 36 hours. Great.

We head up the elevator to supper, and we're served some of the best food in the world. Chicken on a wild rice with sweet brown sauce, and good rich stew that has beef, corn, and even potatoes in it. At the end, as if the rest of the meal wasn't enough, we have a huge cake that's vanilla with red cherries and ice cream on the side. It's dunked in sugar and tastes really sweet. This single meal could last my family 3 months!

"So you're nervous?" asks Jason as I stuff myself.

I stop to answer him and wipe my face with a napkin.

"Yeah, I guess. But it's funny. I'm scared out of my wits, yet when I think about it, I'll be in the woods, free to hunt, and I'll have you," I say.

He literally blushes. It's kind of funny, him being a boy and all.

"I don't think you'll be thinking about me when there're 22 other kids hunting us down. They by the way are in this very building as we speak," he tells me.

"Oh, I can dream happy thoughts, can't I?" I say.

Hagger and he crack up.

"Sorry sweetie, but there's no free time fur dreamin' in that arena!" Hagger says, laughing.

"Oh shut up." I say, laughing as well.

Well, at least, I can pretend that I'm not going in the arena tomorrow morning. I am determined to make this the best night of my life. I'm going to enjoy everything this shiny building has to offer. So I'm enjoying it. Besides, it's probably my last.

I wander to my room and close the door behind me, grabbing a towel off the dresser.

I find my way into the large bathroom and take my shoes and socks off, then I mess with the controls on the shower until a bubbly mixture of soap and warm water is spraying down onto the tiles.

The water disappears into a drain on the floor. I take my dirty clothes off and leave them on the floor in my bedroom, not exactly caring about keeping the place clean.

I step underneath the soapy spray of water and lean my head up to meet it. The soap starts getting in my eyes and the water is much too hot on my skin, but I stay there for a full minute, enjoying it, never having had a hot shower, much less a warm one.

I grab a bottle of green slimy stuff with bubbles in it and pour some into my hand. Then I smell it. It smells like a ripe apple. I like the smell, and I pour the soapy slime on my head and let it slide down my back and all the way down to the floor. It disappears into the drain just like the soapy water.

There's another bottle of something next to the... Apple Slime? I grab it and pour some into my hand. This stuff is thicker and smoother. I dab my finger in it and bring my finger to my nose. This stuff smells like... cold strawberries. I let the substance flow down my hair and into the drain just like the Apple Slime.

I scrub the last of the bubbles out of my hair and step out of the running water. Then I grab the towel I brought in here with me.

I tie the towel around my middle and go over to the mirror with sinks underneath it. There are about a million containers of face soaps and make-up and things I don't even have names for, but I grab a few and smell them, making up little names for each one.

After I've place them all back where I found them and go back to my bedroom, where the door is left ajar. I hurry over to it and close the door. I notice my dirty clothing is gone. It has been replaced by a pair of flannel pajama pants and a pajama shirt.

Both of them are thick and warm. I slide into the warm pajamas and crawl underneath the covers on my bed, deciding to try and get some sleep for tomorrow.

But at about eleven-thirty I realize that it's futile, and I wander back over to my door, trying the knob. The door glides opened and I step out. Then I feel a cool breeze come from the end of the hallway. A door is opened wide, and I hear a conversation going on above me on the roof.

At this moment I should've turned around, realized my door being opened was a mistake, sprinted back into bed and pretend to have never been awake.

But instead I didn't. I crept down the hall to the doorway and listened.

As I sit next to the door listening to the conversation, I hear a familiar voice. I've heard it somewhere. Yes, I know I've heard it. Maybe an old relative? No! I know who it is... President Vincent.

"Vincent, I'm not sure if you're aware of the circumstances in district thirteen, but they have their nuclear bombs pointing right at us!" A man says in a hushed voice.

"Are all the doors down their locked?" President Vincent replies to him.

"Of course they are!" Another man answers.

"Good. And I've already taken care of district thirteen! They want to be left alone to live in their little groundhog holes, just leave them alone. They'll starve to death eventually!" The President answers in a hushed tone.

I back up from the door and silently rush back to my room. I close the door behind me and force my eyes shut, knowing that I shouldn't have ever heard that.

I wake up the next morning to a Capitol servant shaking me.

She nods towards the door and points to her watch. I don't see why she didn't just say something...Anyway, Jason meets me for breakfast, and we stay silent until I speak.

"So, what's the plan?" I ask him.

"We'll run. I don't wanna take chances with the cornucopia," he tells me.

"I guess, but being unarmed..." I begin.

"It won't matter. The rest of um'll be using these weapons just as they've been doing it their whole lives. We don't stand much of a chance at that close range. Bows are better for far distances." he interrupts.

"I guess, but what if there's a bow in that pile?" I say.

"It won't do you any good. You'd have to get a knife to defend yourself at close range, then get your hands on the bow, and make sure no one followed you into the woods when you ran. It's too hard Maysilee," he says.

"Yeah, I guess so." I tell him. But I really want a bow. It'd make me feel so much safer.

Then Hagger walks in and tells us it's time to go.

"It's time to pull out. Good luck you two," he says.

"Okay, comin."

"Come on Maysilee." Jason says holding out his hand to me.

We're in this together. I hope I have a quick death, for Sophie's sake and Jason's if he's nearby.

We walk into a blimp kind of thing, and it takes off. We slide through the air for miles, then the windows black out, and we're in darkness for about three seconds, but then the lights come on again.

We land, and we're allowed to go into our individual launch areas.

I'll be alone in here while I get dressed for the arena. In front of me hanging on a black hook is a black jacket with jeans and a pair of hiking boots. The shoes are good for running, which is probably a good thing for me. There's a plain t-shirt to wear under the jacket.

I guess there'll be some cold nights cause the jacket is pretty thick. But it's far better than nothing I suppose.

I enter my tube. It will lift me into the arena at the ten second mark. The glass tube around me will stay active the sixty seconds we are up. That way no one goes anywhere until it's time. The gong'll sound and the other tributes and I will be free to move off our plates.

I see Jason three plates to the left of me. He sees me, and he looks almost calm. I look to the woods behind us and he nods. That's where Hagger and Jason will want me to go.

But look at the cornucopia! So many weapons! Even two bows right next to each other! With arrows and everything! No. Jason will be running, and he'll worry if I don't come. But I satisfy my need for something with a loaf of bread two feet in front of me that I've decided to scoop up before I leave.

The gong sounds, and my tube literally evaporates into thin air. I scoop up my bread and run! I spot Jason a few tributes to my left as he runs right next to me carrying something. He got a pack? I guess it was in front of him like my bread was. We get to the tree line and don't hesitate to dive in. We clear about a mile before we have to begin jogging instead of sprinting. We keep going for about another two miles, and finally we stop for a rest.

"How you doin?" Jason asks.

"Thirsty. You?" I say.

"Tired. I didn't sleep last night and regret it now."

"Well, we'll find a source of water, then stay there for the night. How's that sound?" I ask.

"Fine," he says.

Just then I hear the leaves shaking, and we watch a brown haired boy running an all-out sprint about thirty feet to our right. We take off in the other direction though I doubt he's following us. He looked like he was running from the cornucopia just like us. What an idiot, making all that noise. Bet he'll get killed tonight when the Careers from districts one, two, and four hunt. We heard they trained for a long time before the match. We stay as silent as possible and keep moving.

We finally stop when it's apparent Jason can't keep going much longer, and I pick a place next to a valley thinking we will have more cover here. We can find water tomorrow. I lie down next to Jason and keep from shivering since our body heat is decently warm when it's combined.

Jason immediately goes out. He'll be rested by tomorrow. I stay up till about 10PM. Then eleven cannons go off, so I guess we'll see eleven faces in the sky tonight. I know not one person. The blood bath lasted a long time. Good. That means the Careers won't be able to find us until tomorrow since we traveled too far for them to reach us tonight, if they're still at the cornucopia, which I hope they are.

In the morning I shake Jason awake and tell him we have to see what we have in the pack. We need to know what we have to work with.

There's a spool of wire, a box of matches, a pack of dried fruits, some bread, and a water bottle. It's empty. My tongue is like sandpaper. We head off, but eventually, we break down and eat two bits of bread, and each of us has a dried pear half. It helps calm my stomach, but does little to quench my thirst. We decide to rest a while before moving on.

We heard them coming. Of course, they found us! We are sitting on the ground! We should've chosen a tree. I knew it!

No time to think about that now. Jason and I take off, and eventually when we realize they're gaining too much on us and will catch us in a matter of seconds; we scale a tree. Just as they get to us Jason is lifting me up. The first boy that breaks through the tree line gets in the tree and lifts his sword to defend himself from anything we could throw at him, but we're defenseless.

When I finally think we're high up enough to be safe, and he can't climb anymore, I look down at him, and he cuts my ankle along the side of the bottom of my pants. I give a small yelp, but the pain makes me even more certain that I have to keep climbing, for my life.

Jason allows me to pass him, seeing my ankle and eventually the branches get too thin for that big, strong boy. He slips and crashes down to the ground. We're getting to a very dangerous height, but we're safe from the Careers.

I guess the boy that fell got hurt because no one else came to get us at the height we are in our tree.

We stop a bit further up and choose a nice thick branch to perch on. I put out my leg and Jason rips a sleeve off his shirt and ties it around my ankle to stop the bleeding. It hurts more than any cut or scrape I've ever had. It is going to take a while to heal, but we have no time off in the arena, so I'll have to make do. Wait, I think to myself. Hagger could send medicine! Those sponsor thingies he was talking about. The uh... What were they? Silver parachutes! They drop things for the tributes in the arena.

"Hagger! Medicine! Please!" I half whisper, half yell into the air.

Nothing comes. I knew it. He's probably off signing autographs for Capitol people or something. They do love people on TV, even though he's a known murderer. But it seems he doesn't care about us.

Jason and I settle down for the night even if it's only early afternoon, and we decide to rest. I go out and then wake to Jason shaking me slightly, and I see a silvery thing in his hand and the pain in my ankle has left me. Hagger! He did it! He sent us medicine!

"Thank you." I whisper to the air. It's midnight, and the Careers below us are asleep, and from the boy guard's position against a tree, it looks like he went out when he was supposed to be keeping watch. Jason and I go back to sleep, and with the medicine I can finally have a restful night, even if the people who are asleep below me are planning to kill me in the morning. There are no faces in the sky tonight, but the audience will be watching contently as Jason and I are stuck in a tree with the Careers below us.

We have to escape!

I wake to hear the Careers whispering below us. Jason is still asleep, and it's probably a bad idea to try and wake him. It would let the Careers know that we are awake and listening. I listen contently for a long while. I also realize that they're all armed and itching to use their weapons.

One voice says, "Oh why can't we just send up one of the smaller girls to take care of them?" I think that was the big heavy boy that got hurt trying to climb up here last night.

"What if they're armed? I mean, knives are a possibility," says a girl.

"Well, I'm amazed. We're sitting here looking stupid! One of you get up there and kill them already!" says another boy who seems mad.

"You know if we kill them, I can't move on. My neck and my leg still feel like jelly!" says the boy that fell.

"Oh my gosh!" Says the other boy as he storms off. A girl follows him and they whisper to each other. I pick up enough to understand their plan.

"Let's leave him here. I mean he's injured and with that bleeding, he'll be dead in a matter of days," says the girl.

"All right, what about them?" He says motioning up the tree.

"Well, I can get up there. They're still asleep. I can kill the boy, then the girl. My knife'll work fine," she says.

"Be careful, I'm not going to the final two without you." He says and kisses her cheek. I assume they're from the same district. Love birds. How sweet. Not.

"I will be. See you soon." She says and begins to scale the tree.

I move into a position that allows me to be hidden in some leaves and to have the ability to pounce right on her when she comes up.

She reaches us, and when she swings her leg up, I jump onto her back and tug her so hard she begins to fall from the tree with me on her back. I grab an almost stubby branch on the way down, and she plummets to the ground. The boy from her district sits next to her as she huffs her last breath. She fell a much greater distance than the boy. I'm not surprised when I hear the cannon. It also awakens Jason, who before saying a thing pulls me up to our little nook in the trees.

The Careers begin a discussion, and Jason and I listen.

"This is your fault!" yells the boy who loved the girl who is lying on the ground dead. He points at me.

"Yeah it is! And I'm glad!" I yell back with a smirk on my face.

"What?" Jason asks.

"I'll explain later," I say.

"I'll kill him! Your little boyfriend!" Then he continues to yell a lot of terrible things at his allies and at me.

"How about I kill you?!" I yell down, even though I'm unarmed.

"Yeah right! With what!?" he yells.

"Jason hand me the bow and arrows." I say loud enough for them to hear.

It's amazing how quickly they run, the boy and the other girl. The injured one lying on the ground, stares into space; he looks like he's just as dead as the girl beside him. I feel bad for him. But not enough to help him. I wait for the remaining two Careers to be long gone. Then Jason and I go down. When we get down, we search the girl's pack, and the boy's, who has no way of stopping us. His cannon goes off.

In the girl's pack we find a compass, package of dried fruit, a water bottle, and the knife she tried to kill us with. I find a bottle of water on the boy, and it's half-full, same as the girl's. Jason and I are so thirsty we don't hesitate to both take a deep gulp of water. We pour half the water in each of our containers, and we head off in the opposite direction of the Careers.

We reach a kind of cave that sticks out of the side of a hill at about the time the moon is rising, and we take shelter in it for the night. It's pretty warm in here, and there's even a little pool of spring-fed water in the back of the cave. I'm starving and so is Jason, so we each eat half a pack of dried fruit. It in no way satisfies my stomach. Jason and I go outside of our cave and with the last rays of sunlight, we set 12 wire snares. I did see a few rabbits in this area of the woods when we were coming here, so I wouldn't be surprised if we catch one tonight.

As we're entering the cave for the night, the sky lights up, and there's a projection of the boy that bled to death and the girl that I suppose I killed.

We both retire to the cave and fall asleep. Jason is out like a light and just as I'm going to sleep too the anthem begins and I stare out into the darkness. I watch three faces move across the sky. I guess we missed a cannon at some point today. That means there are ten of us left. We're dropping like flies.

In the morning I fill our water bottles and get our packs in order. I wake Jason, and we go out and each of us checks six snares. From mine I get one fat rabbit. Jason shows me that he got a squirrel and a rabbit, and I claim he just got lucky. Though both of us know it's because he's better with snares than I could ever be.

We clean the animals, and we decide to start a fire and hope that the morning fog conceals the smoke. It does conceal it nicely, and I'm betting the Careers are too far off to notice our smoke anyway. Jason and I are famished, and we both eat half the squirrel. I weave a bit of a sack out of the tall grasses that grow beside the small stream that a leak in the cave's spring created on the outside of the cave. I put the two rabbits in the sack, and Jason and I decide to leave six snares set, but just in case we need to move, we take the other half of wire and put it in our pack. We each have half the supplies now. I have the pack that was on the boy that bled to death, and Jason has the pack that he got from the cornucopia. Jason let me keep the knife with me since I can throw it with more accuracy.

As I arrange my few belongings in my pack, I think to myself who exactly is left. The boy from one, the girl from two, the boy and girl from five, the girl from seven, the boy from eight, the girl from ten, the boy from eleven, and Jason and I. So there're ten of us left, fourteen dead.

The only teams I know of are the Careers from one and two and Jason and I are teamed. That's all I know. For all I know there could be a whole team of six out there made up of the non-career people.

Jason comes up to me and plops down on a rock outside of the cave.

"When are we moving out?" he asks.

"As soon as you're off your butt." I say throwing a handful of leaves at him.

"Fair enough," he says.

"Where to?" I ask looking in different directions, trying to decide what kind of area we want to be in, what areas offer the most cover and protection.

"Hmmmm..." He wonders quite a while.

"Let's move this way." He says to continue in the opposite direction the Careers took as they fled us when we lied to them about our fake bow.

"Fine," I say and we start off.

We walk for a while, and it's about noon when we hear a cannon.

"Wonder who that was?" I say, wondering.

"No telling, maybe the Careers found someone," Jason says.

"Maybe someone found the Careers," I say.

We keep moving until at about 2 or 3 in the afternoon when we are forced to stop and each eat a rabbit leg to keep our stomachs from growling. I take out a duck with the knife when we stop at a pond to refill our water supply. I grab it from the water and remove the weapon from its body. We decide to wait until dark and then make a fire to roast it. That way no one will see our smoke. We keep moving till dusk, then make a fire and roast our duck and both have a piece of rabbit. As far as food, we have 1 and a third rabbits, a duck, and half a pack of dried fruit.

We're all right as long as we keep snaring and killing animals as we move. We set some snares and climb a tree for the night.

I wake up to the feeling of the tree moving. It's no dream. I sense danger one moment before the shaking of our tree begins. I am shrieking Jason's name at the top of my lungs as I grip a branch and watch as the huge boy from district eleven shakes our tree from the trunk. He's too big to get up, so he's trying to bring us down. It keeps shaking for almost a half hour, and finally when I believe he's stopped shaking it, I relax my muscles and it's a mistake. I fall and go crashing to the ground after he shakes the tree once again. My head gets hit on a branch on the way down, but now isn't the best time to look at it. Besides it doesn't feel too bad, just a bruise. He gets on top of me and yells so loud that my ears hurt.

"DID YOU KILL HER?!" He shouts loud enough to wake the dead.

"Who?!" I'm terrified.

"THE GIRL FROM ONE! SHE HAD A BOYFRIEND!" He shouts again.

"Yes, I shoved her off the tree Jason and I were in!" I am so scared.

"The girl you killed, her boyfriend from one killed my ally. I felt bad for the little girl from seven and made her my ally. The district one boy came and found us. The Little girl tried to run, but before I could blink, he caught her and...

"I ran and as I ran, I dropped a handful of darts on the ground. I got away as they pulled them out of their feet." He just seems upset now.

I stand up, realizing he isn't going to kill me.

"I'll see you at final three," he says, then takes off for the woods.

"Come on Jason! Let's go..." I yell up to Jason, although he probably heard the whole thing unfold underneath him.

"Let's get out of here. I'll bet everyone knows where we are now! Let's move!" he yells back.

"All right!" I yell back. Then we move on and keep going until nightfall.

It's dark and I realize we'd better choose a tree or somewhere to sleep that's safe. Probably a flimsy tree is a bad idea considering what happened when we were in that little tree last night.

We find a nice large oak and it's sturdily built, so we scale it and when we're going to sleep and I lean my head against Jason's shirt to use as a sort of pillow.

I move my fingers along where I hit my head on the way down from the tree and find a nice big bump. It doesn't hurt much though, so I close my eyes and try to sleep.

Then the anthem begins and the girl from district seven flashes in the sky. No more deaths today. It's probably getting rather boring in the Capitol.

I go to sleep and wake up to the sound of a fire starting. Jason is already up and watching the fire starters sit at their fire.

"Girl and Boy from five. Heard them talking earlier as they made the fire." Jason whispers to me.

I nod in assent and we watch them. They have one knife. That's all. We'd be even in a fight, but we'd have the surprise factor on our side. The girl falls asleep and the knife is in her belt. This is our only chance.

We go down our tree and sneak around to them. I jump on the girl and grab the knife from her belt. Jason grabs the boy and puts the knife I toss to him into his neck. I hold my knife to the girl's neck and she's crying. She's screaming, "Jared! Jared! Jared!" I suppose that was the boy's name. His cannon goes off.

I put the knife right on the girl's throat, about to do it. When she flips me onto the ground, grabs my knife and she's on me. She holds up the knife to my throat just as Jason is reaching her.

"Stand back! Or your girl here is dead!" She snarls. Jason is still tired from just waking up, and I can tell he is still half sure this is a dream.

"Jason do it. Stand back." I say.

"Maysilee." He says. "I..."

"Run. Just run..." I reply.

I realize there is no way I can get away. I close my eyes and await death.

Jason takes his knife and holds it up to his own throat.

"If you're going out I am too," he says.

"Jason you can't! Go home! Win the games for both of us!" I scream.

"I can't. Not without you," he says.

The girl holding the knife to my throat drops the knife to her side. She lets me go, and I run to Jason and grab the knife away from his throat. The girl takes the knife and jabs it into her own heart.

"I...I can't separate you. You love each other. Go home together." She says as she falls to the ground.

Her cannon goes off. I'll remember her and I silently thank her for my life.

It's midday and Jason and I each have a piece of rabbit and now we have only a duck, rabbit, and a bit of dried fruit left. It'll last long enough.

We move this way and that until we come across an old oak and scale it. We sight a lake a few miles away from the top of the tree. That'll be where we'll head tomorrow. The anthem begins and Jason and I watch the district five tributes shine in the sky.

There's only seven of us left. The boy from district one, the girl from two, the boy from eight, the girl from ten, the boy that let me go from eleven, and, of course, Jason and I. I wonder if anyone has joined the Careers' little squad lately, since they were down to two people last time we saw them. Usually if you have an alliance like the Careers you want enough people to scare everyone away with. Also to make sure no one else has as much of a chance of teaming with somebody. Sometimes I think if the other districts had formed a large alliance, then we could have easily taken on the Careers.

I go to sleep with Jason next to me. We realize that the arena has gotten colder at night time, and we have begun to sleep so close together that at times I have to laugh because I'm so squished. But it's warm and that's really all that matters when it's as cold as it is.

I wake with the tip of my nose as cold as an icicle. Jason is freezing too. I wake him and we move around to warm up. When I can finally feel my fingers, we move in the direction of the lake. I can't believe what we see as we enter the clearing beside to the lake. Three Careers sitting in fold-up chairs eating breakfast. They went to the cornucopia and brought it all here?! Then the cornucopia must be close. There's the boy from one, the girl from two, and it looks like the boy from eight joined them.

Jason and I sink back into the woods and they never see us. This is a lovely spying place though, we can even hear a bit of what they're saying.

"If we find them today, I get to kill her in my own way. Nobody is allowed to interfere!" says the boy from one. Somehow I don't think that he's referring to the girl from eight.

"Fine, but I get him. We could make her watch," says the girl from two. Okay, it's official, the Careers hate us.

"Could I come? I mean, I can throw a spear," asks the boy from eight.

"What did we tell you about talking!?" screams the boy from one.

"Not to," says district eight boy. He stays silent.

"That's right! Or we kill you!" says the district two girl.

Why are they sparing him if they don't want his help? Is he really expected to guard their supplies? Jason and I could kill him easily.

"All right. Come on Nikki," Says the boy from one. They take off into the woods.

Jason and I wait until the district eight boy is refilling his water bottle to attack, Jason from one side of the lake, me from the other. The district eight boy raises his spear. He throws it in my direction and I evade a fatal hit, but it still skids across my side. It's not too bad. I keep charging. Jason and I reach him at about the same time. He's breaking open a pack filled with knives. He throws three in Jason's direction and four in mine.

Jason pins him to the ground. I hold his own spear to his heart.

"I'll kill them! Let me live and I'll kill the Careers! Please!" he begs.

Hm...I guess.

"You don't and when your friends leave tomorrow, we'll kill you." I snarl at him.

"I'll do it!" he says, terrified.

"Hold him there, I'm looking through their supplies," I say.

They have almost no food left and are probably gonna have to hunt soon, so I just leave it. They have an amazing assortment of knives. I take three. Jason asks for three. I get him some, and while I hold the boy down, he sees if there is anything else he wants. Nothing. He's happy with his knives. We leave the boy at the camp and melt into the woods to watch our plan be carried out.

We reach the woods and find a safe, sturdy, unshakable tree. I pull up my shirt and look at the cut the spear left on my side. Jason's foot got cut by one of the knives that the boy threw. His wound isn't too bad, but he still wraps it up.

My cut isn't too deep, but it hurts, and I mean hurts. It's like a burn. It stings when I have my shirt down on it, but if I don't keep my shirt on it'll rub on the tree bark and get the cut dirty and infected. I wrap it in a bit of clothe from my head bandage that really has no purpose since my head is now as good as new. I unwrap my head and use the bandage around my middle. It feels better when I don't have to look at it.

The Careers unhappily stroll into their camp and immediately the girl goes to sleep. She looks exhausted. They must've done a lot of hunting for tributes today. Not surprised they couldn't find anyone. There's only two people out there. The boy from eight finally gets impatient and risks talking to get the district one boy in bed.

"Aren't you tired? I'll do the first watch." He ventures cautiously.

"Yeah? Why?" He asks, suspecting a trap.

"Just figured you'd be tired. If you wanna stay up, I'll just get to bed." He says fake yawning. He stands and begins to walk over to the sleeping bags.

"No way you're getting to sleep! I feel like I went to the moon and back! You take the watch. I'm exhausted," says the district one guy, not caring that he may be entering a trap, only wanting sleep.

I watch for a while and I guess when the district eight boy finally decides it's safe, he takes his knife up and throws it right into Nikki's stomach. The district one boy wakens. He's prepared for the knife coming in his direction and evades it, mostly. He does get hit pretty bad in the upper right leg though.

Nikki's as good as dead, but he missed her heart.

The district eight boy runs for the woods. The district one boy goes in pursuit, leaving Nikki.

"Brandon! Brandon! Brandon!" She yells. I guess that's the boy from one's name.

I wish I could say: just close your eyes and stop making yourself miserable. He's not coming back. I climb down the tree and Jason follows me. We cross the plain to Nikki and she is weaponless. I sit down next to her and she begins talking.

"Please just kill me. I can't do anything about it now! Please kill me!" she begs.

"What can't you do anything about?" I ask, curiously.

"I wanted to fix it! I really did!" she says.

"Fix what!" I ask.

She puffs out her last breath and she's dead.

Jason is beside me when her cannon goes off.

"What'd she say?" Jason asks.

"I don't know, she died before she could tell me." I say confused.

"Hm. Well, what do you wanna do now?" he asks.

"Let's grab some sleeping bags and burn the rest." I take two sleeping bags and we stuff them in our packs.

We burn the supplies we don't want. That way Brandon can't have them when he comes back after chasing that district eight boy.

There's a huge inferno of fire once all of the things we don't want are burning. Then something catches my eye. Something in the pile of weapons we didn't want. There's a shining golden bow and a burning sheath of arrows.

I run to the pile and grab the bow and arrows and throw them into the lake and put my hands in the cool water as well. I have a bow and arrows! Jason and I could win now! He has his knives and with me having a bow, we could really win.

My hands feel like they're on fire even though I have them dangling in the cool lake water. Jason asks me if we should move for the night into a tree or something, but I can't stand having my hands out of the water for more than a couple seconds. We stay at the burning camp overnight. In the morning I wake up to Jason shaking me.

"Hagger did it! He hasn't forgotten us!" Jason says ripping open a sponsor gift.

It has a bottle of medicine. It smells like the stuff we use for burns back home. I can finally leave the lake.

I apply a coat of medicine to my hands and the burning sensation disappears. Thank you, Hagger.

"Thanks," I say to the blue sky.

"You think we can move now?" Jason asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine now that my hands aren't on fire," I say.

We move in the opposite direction the boy from district eight took as he was chased by Brandon.

We keep moving until about three in the afternoon. As we sit by a stream eating duck, we hear the loud boom of a cannon. I think there goes district eight boy.

"I guess Brandon is on his own," Jason says.

"What about the district ten girl?" I reply. I know the huge district eleven boy won't ever ally with Brandon.

"Probably out there somewhere hiding. I don't think Brandon would team at this point anyway," Jason says.

"Why not? It would help him," I ask.

"At this point I think the only thing teaming would get either of them is a knife in the back," he says.

"True," I say understanding what he means.

Just then there is a rustling in the leaves and a huge pack of wild lion monster things come from the brush, and Jason and I take off running backward. Toward the lake. Toward the cornucopia. Toward the place where the Capital is sure to get a bloody fight out of us. Out in the open. The lions are gaining on us every second, and we eventually emerge on the open plain where we started the games. Just then there is a shriek from the other side of the cornucopia.

Jason and I continue running from the beasts. I realize this may be the finale of the games. I decide the safest place is the cornucopia. On top of it. Jason doesn't hesitate to come up after me, seeing the pack of lions is on his heels. They claw at his feet as he climbs up, me helping him. We are on the top now and I look over the other side. There is a huge lion on top of the girl from district ten. She has wavy blond hair. Eyes as green as emeralds. I remember her name. She was the one that everyone thought of as the prettiest tribute. Because of that hair and those eyes. Her name was...Ginger!

She looks so scared. She's only about fourteen. Not nearly as big as the rest of us. I can't help feeling sorry for her. The dog takes one final bite of her throat, and I watch her die. She's dead, but then she starts flailing around. Then her cannon goes off. She transforms before my eyes to a ravage beast. The dead tributes. All of them. They are the ones coming after us now. The big one that was on her...Nikki!

Nikki was always a big, strong girl. That coat the dog wears is the same as Nikki's hair was. The small blond dog is yipping and clawing the golden surface of the cornucopia. I guess the Capitol has a lot of free time. To make humans transform into lions. One of the many reasons I hate the Capitol. The only things they do are against us. Never with us.

Jason snaps me back to reality.

"Maysilee! Wake up!" he screams.

I realize I'm standing on the golden cornucopia staring into space, thinking to myself about the lions who are the opponents who have already been killed.

Just then the big boy from district eleven comes barreling onto the open plain, being chased by Brandon. Brandon is wielding the silver sword that he got from the cornucopia when the game started. I lift my bow, position an arrow, and let it fly into Brandon's heart. He collapses on the ground. His cannon goes off. I look away. I don't want to watch even him change into a beast of a lion.

The lions have given chase to the district eleven boy, and I realize if I kill him, or if the lions kill him, Jason and I are going to have to fight. To kill one and other. The big boy from eleven is jumped on by a lion that can only be Brandon. Who else could be that big and powerful? The district eleven boy's cannon goes off.

Before Jason can do anything, I shove my own knife into my heart. As I fall from the cornucopia, onto the ground, I silently say goodbye to Sophie and Eli. Good luck guys, I hope you grow up to have children that aren't drawn into any reapings.

I hit the ground, close my eyes, and just as I drift away, I hear a boom of a cannon that can only mean that I let Jason win. My mission is complete. He got home. I can only think of one thing as I'm leaving life, I wish you the best of luck Jason.

**THE END**

**Lost**

I wake up to seeing a bird perched in my window. The beautiful bird sings a wake up song to the others. I get up and dressed remembering that today is Saturday, the one day of the week Jason and I can really be alone, concealed in the woods. Of course he's only my friend, but at times I feel like he's more than that. Foolishness. I can't be thinking about that when I have such a busy life. My name is Maysilee Donner and I am 17 years old.

Every day I go to school, come home, hit the woods, bring home some game (deer, squirrel, possum, or rabbit), and feed my family. My mother died 3 years ago, but my father just sits in his old rocking chair, staring into space, mourning her. I am sick of it though! He has left me alone and having to take care of myself and my sister and my little brother that just yesterday turned 3. Sophie helps as much as she can, but being only 15, she can't do much except babysit Eli and make a small salad out of little plants that grow in our backyard. I will never let her risk going into the woods.

I have to go into the woods to hunt. I have a bow and 12 arrows that my father made me when I was 12. I am now almost 18

and use these wonderful weapons every day. During school my friend Jason's mother watches my brother Elijah while I'm at school with my sister Sophie, and when I go hunting after school Sophie watches him at home.

Jason lost his father in an accident in the woods one day. Jason, both our fathers, and I were in the woods hunting. I took down my first deer that day. We were lugging it home to present it to our mothers when we heard a slight buzzing noise coming from the oak tree standing in front of us. When we heard it, we stopped a second. Then Jason's father slowly moved an inch forward to take a look at the nest. But just that simple movement sent the Stingers into chaos, and they came out of that paper shell like it was nothing. Each sting from a Stinger could most certainly either kill you or if you were lucky just paralyze the place the sting went in.

These wasp-like bees are called Stingers. They can give out three stings before they die of lack of venom; venom is what keeps them going. That day they all swarmed out of the hive so quickly I didn't even have time to blink before I felt Jason's strong arm pulling me backward into the woods. We crashed through forsythia bushes and raspberry bushes, and then we literally ran into the pond. Water is the only thing that kills Stingers. If they touch you while you're wet, they're dead in seconds.

The whole time we ran through the woods with my father pressing at us to keep moving, Jason kept yelling, "Hurry Dad! Please!" Yet he never got a reply from his dad.

I was shocked by how quickly the day changed from my being prideful of my first deer, to Jason and me running for our lives from deadly Stingers.

I jumped into the cool water, and I surfaced and blew water out of my mouth. I saw Jason come up shortly after me, just in time to see my father barrel through the trees and into the pond.

I pulled my father's arm and yanked him out of the water. I asked him, crying and worried, if he was stung. When I was answered with a no, I flung myself into his arms and thanked the maker we were safe. Then I realized Jason's father wasn't there. I got out of the pond and looked over my bow and arrows. They were fine.

Then I heard my father say, "We need to go back and see if Jason's father's all right. He might have gone to the river, but we need to make sure."

Jason and I obediently and slowly followed my father through the woods. We got near the place with the broken nest on the ground. The Stingers were all gone. Not even one left. We went to the river. Nothing. We checked along the path for any sign of Jason's father, nothing.

Then, on the way to the small creek that could be the only other place he would have gone, we saw him, lying on the ground 3 feet away from the water. Stingers buzzed around his body. He was gone. Jason started crying as he turned and walked away from the scene. I followed behind him as he leaned against a tree, then slid down into a sitting position.

He pushed my hand away when I tried to comfort him. I started drying out but hardly cared or noticed at that point. Then there was a small movement in my shirt. I felt a sharp pinch in my shoulder. I was on the ground before Jason could catch me. I was out like a light. I only remember the dreadful look on Jason's face when he saw me fall to the ground.

I woke confused. What happened? Then I slowly remembered... I felt all right enough to open my eyes, but saw almost nothing until they focused on Jason. He was sitting on a chair next to me, and I was wrapped in a blanket in bed. He was almost ecstatic when I awake. I found out that I had been asleep for almost 3 days. I surprisingly only had gotten one sting, and the Stinger was probably weakened by the water.

Jason leaned in to me and gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead. I looked into his eyes, his dark hazel eyes. I realized he'd been awake for the entire time when I saw the bags under his eyes.

After that, he left my room and went home. I didn't see him until noon the next day when I insisted that I was well enough to go hunting for a while. He was sitting on an old oak branch that fell during a storm a few years before.

All that day we hunted through the woods, searching for game.

I never brought up that day again. Neither did he.

I have known he loves me for every second since that day. But I never will speak of that day because it brings back too much pain, especially for Jason.

Ever since then we have been feeding our families. My father and I did it for a while until my mother died of a Stinger that got stuck in my father's hunting jacket and didn't get out until my mother started washing it. She shook it and then in a second it was on her, stinging her cheek. She only had seconds to live. Three seconds after she fell to the ground, she was gone.

Now it's up to me and Jason to feed our families. Jason has two brothers and one sister. His younger brothers are twins and are only three. His younger sister is two and is so sweet that I melt like an icicle when I'm around her.

Jason and I took off for the woods early this morning, bringing a big game bag instead of my small one. Today is Saturday. We spend the entire day working our way deep into the woods. When we reach a small pond that must be spring fed, we stop to clean our game. I got three turkeys and two big geese. Jason got four turkeys and four geese. I finish cleaning my game first, so I wade up to my knees in the pond and splash my face clean. Jason comes and fills our canteens, and we sit there until early afternoon.

I tell Jason we should head back, and he doesn't object. We went further than usual today. We both go different ways. Then I say, "Jason, home's this way."

And he says, pointing in a different direction, "Uh, I thought we came from this way."

"Let's just go this way," I say.

He comes and we go for about an hour before we realize we're completely lost.

"Oh no," I say as we enter a giant meadow that definitely isn't on the way home.

I look to Jason, and he says something I didn't expect. "Guess this is where we're staying tonight." Then he points to the setting sun.

I find a nice oak tree to sleep in, but Jason tells me he's too big, and he could never fall asleep all the way up there. Then he says, "Maysilee, why don't you go curl up in your tree while I sleep on the ground?"

But this is obviously not going to end well. I think about all the predators that'll be looking for a meal. Then I burst out, before really thinking about it, "Look Jason, I understand it won't be comfortable, but you'll either do it, or I'll pull you up there in the middle of the night!" The look on his face says he's amused, but he does as I say and climbs up the tree.

"Don't think many Stingers could find us up here," I laugh, but soon see he is pointing up, far up in the tree. There is a lump on the side of the tree. I take a look and try to figure out what it is. It's a Stinger nest.

I see the terrified look in Jason's eyes and know that my worst fear has been confirmed. "Climb..." I hear Jason say in a quiet voice. "down..." he says.

"Duh, down," I say quietly. Then I swing my leg down and begin going down the large tree. I hear Jason following me.

I see Jason still climbing down just as I get to the ground. He is almost down when he puts his leg on a broken branch, and it snaps. The Stingers buzz and fly and attempt to sting the tree, until they find us.

I start running from the tree and right into a stream that's beside the meadow. I didn't even know it was here until I ran into it. I cover myself with the water and await Jason running in after me.

Seconds later he bursts through the tall grass from the meadow and into the water. A stinger is buzzing above the water, waiting for him to come back up. I kick it with my boot and it falls into the water.

"What are you trying to do? Kick me in the head?" Jason says coming out of the water.

"No!" I say. "Do you honestly think I would try to kick you like that?"

He laughs. "Well..." he says sarcastically.

Then we both laugh.

"Trust me, if I had been trying to kick you, you would've gotten kicked," I reply.

After a while, we decide it's probably safe to leave the pond.

"We should head back to that pond we cleaned the meat at, then we can go in the direction _that I _suggested," Jason says.

I suppress a smile. "Sure, I should've listened to you anyway," I say. "I'm terrible at judging direction."

"Not really," Jason says, then grabs my arm and pulls me around so that I'm inches from his eyes. "Which way is the pond now?" he says jokingly.

"You tell me," I say.

He laughs softly and lets me go.

We reach the pond and head in the direction Jason suggested earlier that day and continue on for a long time.

We come across a large oak tree, and I scale it to look around for anything that would signify that we're close to home. Nothing. Then I see something in a tree a few hundred yards away from where I am perched now. It can't be. I don't believe it. It's one of my tree stands! Something I made for hunting! That means we're literally about a mile away from home. I shout out in joy! I hear the slight sound of a cracking branch, but I ignore it.

"Jason! Look! My tree stan-..." I shout falling out of the tree.

I hit some branches on the way down, and then I hit the ground so hard it knocks every wisp of air from my lungs. Then the branch comes down after me, pinning my legs underneath it.

I try to grab at the branch, to push it off of me, but it's too big.

"Maysilee, wait." Jason puts his arms underneath the branch. "When I lift it, you slide out," he says.

"One... Two... Three!" he lifts the branch a few inches off my legs and I scoot out.

Once I'm out, he lets the branch go and it smashes against the ground.

"Are you okay?" he asks me.

I nod. "Thanks for...-" I motion to the branch.

He smiles, offering me a hand.

I take it and stand.

"Let's go home." I explain how I fell because I saw a tree stand and I point to it. We head in the direction of the markers we had built in this part of the woods and emerge in my backyard only to be met by a pair of official looking guards; they tell us we're being taken to prison.

I notice a pin that they both wear on their uniforms. It has a MockingJay being stabbed with an arrow on it. I have a pin. It has a MockingJay. But mine is flying and well, alive.

They are both men and both carry guns. I risk one question.

"Why are we being taken to prison, may I ask?"

The taller of the two answers, "You are disobeying the new laws. No one is allowed across the electrical fence."

Just then some guards move over with some barbed wire and seal up the woods opening we came through. New laws?! I have ALWAYS been able to hunt. What have they done to my world? I only left it for maybe a day. Now I can't hunt?!

"President Vincent will see you now," says the shorter man.

The taller man walks off. I guess he had some sort of meeting. We're left with just the shorter man.

"Wounded Deer," I say in a hushed voice.

Jason knows exactly what I'm talking about. If we shoot a deer, we have a system that we use to make sure we don't get hurt when we try to approach it. I go behind it and Jason goes in front. I jump on the unsuspecting guard and get him in a sort of headlock. Jason takes a length of rope from his pack and ties the man's feet and hands. We lug him into an old warehouse a couple yards in front of the woods and attach his ropes to an old pole.

"What's going on? We were here this morning, and there were absolutely no guards anywhere. Where the heck did you come from?!" I say furiously.

"The...state Capitol government. They made new laws, elected a new president, and made each state smaller and into what they now call districts," he says, obviously overwhelmed.

"You're gonna tell the authorities out there that we're innocent, or we'll slit your throat," says Jason holding the knife to his throat.

"Jason..." I say quietly and look right into his eyes. We both know he wouldn't ever hurt another living soul, but I decide to keep quiet just in case this guard is stupid enough to fall for Jason's little trick.

"All right! I'll do it! Please let me go!" he begs.

"Come on, let's get this over with," says Jason throwing an "I told ya' so" smile in my direction.

Jason unties his arms and feet. We walk outside and immediately some guards look at us, and then the guard says, "False alarm! They're good!" then walks away quickly.

Jason and I then walk into my house, and Sophie wraps her arms around me.

"You're okay! Where have you been!?" She starts crying in happiness.

"Maysie!" says Elijah.

"Jason and I got...a bit lost while we were hunting. We're fine." I say to calm Sophie down.

I pick Eli up and give him a hug. He wipes his snot-covered nose on my shirt.

"Gee, thanks buddy!" I say grabbing a towel.

"Dad," I say in a smooth tone, placing the towel on the table.

"Maysilee," he says in a detached voice.

Then the TV starts up by itself, and I'm looking at none other than a man that is introduced as President Vincent, the man who made all these changes, the man I hate. He took my woods away!

"Hello, I am your new president," he begins. I sit down in front of the TV, and I feel Jason's body tense behind me. "I will be in charge of the soon to be built Capitol city. Our brand-new country is very soon going to be named by our council!"

"There was a small incident with a boy and a girl breaking into the woods today. But I assure you they have been taken care of. Nonetheless, the new laws have been posted on every bulletin board and shop in the country. My guards have made sure of that. May I be the first to inform you all that any person who disobeys these laws will be prosecuted immediately." The program ends, and it's back to regular programs and commercials.

"Why are they doing this?" Jason asks.

"You don't think it was because we were hunting, do you?" I ask him.

"Maysilee, I'm not sure. But until we are, we all have to stay under the radar, obey the new laws." He says in an angry and sarcastic tone. "See you in the morning."

"Yeah, I guess," I say, equally annoyed.

When I awake the next morning, Sophie is sleeping next to me in my bed. I guess she was scared last night. I shake her awake.

"What is it?" She asks still half asleep.

"Could you watch Eli until I get back?" I ask her.

"Depends. Where are you going?" She asks demanding an answer.

"Just out to check out what's going on in town with Jason. I'll be back in an hour or so." I tell her.

"All right," she says.

I walk to Jason's house and knock on the door. He opens it, and we walk soundlessly down the street, not needing words to tell each other what we fear to find in town: a mob of people disobeying orders, a group of people holding signs that could say terrible things about our new leader. Maybe everyone is as afraid as us, and it will be completely silent and motionless.

We enter the town square and it's like an old silent movie. No one is talking. They all move from wherever they came from to the next place they need to go. People silently purchase milk and eggs from the farmers, wealthier people purchase candy and sugar from the bakery.

Jason and I take a seat on a bench and watch as the terrified people, watched closely by the new guards, attempt to go along with all the new rules.

"What are we supposed to do?" I ask him. I rest my head on his shoulder.

"Whatever we have to to stop this," he says.

"How?" I ask unconvinced.

"Start a war. I'm not living in fear, though it seems that everyone else is fine with it!" He says seriously.

The next day we wake and meet at a broken down tree that they must have taken down because it was in the way of the new fence. On the television this morning, we, our district was given a number. I guess it's our district number or something.

"Why 12?" Jason says as he walks over to the log where I'm already waiting.

"Oh, who cares?" I ask. I am honestly beyond caring.

"I do," he says.

"Why?" I ask him. "Why does it even matter?"

"Have you seen the latest announcement they tacked on the board?" He asks me as if taking his time to prepare me for something.

"Yeah. Wasn't it the thing about us being 12?"

"No, not that," he says.

"Then what?" I ask.

"Here look for yourself. I got a copy." He hands me a piece of paper.

_Come one, come all to the 1st Death Match of the districts! The Capitol citizens will, of course, be spared having to join! Two tributes, one girl and one boy, from each of the twelve districts will be brought before the Capitol to fight to the death! There will be one winner. Good luck to you all at the reaping! - Your very own President Vincent!_

I, at first, don't understand. Then Jason explains what he learned from the shopkeepers was that each district has to give one boy and one girl to the Capitol to play these awful games. In other words since Jason and I have just broken the law, we are almost guaranteed a spot.

"Wait. What does that have to do with our district number?" I ask him because they seem like two very different things.

"Well, the so called Capitol has promised the other districts, 1-10 food and riches until the reaping because the Capitol wants them better fed than the rest of us. They really don't want the district 12 "tributes" to win. Apparently we are the only districts that have disrespected the laws, so we have to suffer because of it. I think it's because Vincent hates us, but I could be wrong." He says sarcastically.

"But, why doesn't district 11 get food?" I say.

"Guess they did something bad too," he says obviously not caring about a district other than the one he's in.

"Yeah, guess so..." I say. But part of me thinks that district 11 will suffer far more in the games than us. Jason and I can work together well, but what if district 11 tributes can't? I honestly feel bad for them.

I wake up the next morning to Sophie feeding Eli dried plums. He's growing so fast. I haven't taken the time to notice him. But look at those little feet. I laugh at myself. I'm thinking about Eli's feet. Jason knocks at the door.

"It's open!" I yell.

"Hey, happy reaping." He says annoyingly.

"Oh, it'll be over soon. Come on watch the names flash up on the television. They've gotten to 11 already," I say.

He comes over and we watch.

The district 11 tributes will be a girl named Violet and a boy named Richard. They show Richard on television, and he has muscles bigger than my hands stretched out in a butterfly shape. He's gonna win...

District 12 is coming up. The girl will be...Maysilee Donner! The boy tribute will be Jason Woodlind!

Jason Woodlind! Jason. Me. I can't sort anything out for a moment. All my brain can conjure up is that I'm headed into an arena with Jason. Even if we're the final two, what would we do? I mean, on the television yesterday, President Vincent said only one would survive. I really don't think he was kidding. I just hope someone kills one of us before we get there.

Later today, a big metal train will roll into the district station, and I will have to get onto it and ride to the Capitol. Some people are saying that we've entered the "Dark Days," but, honestly, I don't feel like talking about it.

The train comes up to our shack of a station, and Jason and I give our families one last hug goodbye, and we're off. Hopefully we have someone good to train us, someone to whip us into shape the way they showed the district one and two "mentors" preparing their tributes on TV last night.

I see a man with short brown hair who got on the train with us and assume he's the guy. I tap his shoulder, and he flinches.

He then says, without even looking at us, "I can't help you. I'm just the only guy that caused enough trouble to get sent to the Capitol to mentor for these stupid games." I realize he's here because he got in trouble, just like Jason and I did.

"Look. We're going in their arena and you're gonna have to mentor us like the Capitol said. Neither of us have any choice." I say to try and calm him.

"Well, aren't you the brave one?" he says.

"What?" I ask.

"No one else would talk to me after I told them the reason I was here. Maybe that's cause you're here for something you did. Hm?" He asks me, demanding an answer.

What could it hurt? I don't have a chance in these games anyway.

"Jason and I hunted illegally back home. Got caught. What about you? What'd you do?" I want to know why he's been forced into the torture of mentoring two kids that are most probably going to die.

"I, I killed a guard. He came to my house early in the morning to inspect it, and I saw him carrying a gun. I ran down to my cellar and got my gun. I heard a shot. He killed my wife, so I shot him. I swear I'll do anything to destroy the Capitol for killing the one person in the world that actually had meaning to me."

We all stay silent for a long time.

"Then you'll help us?" Jason asks.

"Yeah, I'll get you ready. They trained me and the other mentors underground for the past few weeks, under this training center thing: how to hold a spear, shoot a bow. They even gave us advice to give to our tributes. You know, how to survive, timing of tribute gifts. But I have a decent idea of what to do." He says back. He starts walking to another car. Then he stops.

"What are tribute gifts?" I ask.

"During the Death Match if you're having trouble, I can send you certain gifts of medicine and food. I can't really tell you what they would be. The Capitol decides whether I'm even allowed to send anything. By the way. The name's Hagger. James Hagger. But if you call me James, I'll kill you." He says and walks away into the train.

Well, at least we have a chance now. I hope.

After many hours go by, the train stops and Jason and Hagger walk out. I follow them into a large, shiny building with windows on each floor. When we get inside it takes my breath away, hanging chandeliers, five people dressed in red serving some people at a table, and the most amazing smells coming out from this sliding glass door leading to a kitchen. We all get rooms with beds and warm covers and an unlimited supply of warm water from a faucet in the bathroom.

I wake up the next morning in my room/cell, and finally at 6am the door unlocks, and I'm free to move into the dining area for breakfast. Jason literally bumps into me when I open my door across the hall from him. I guess we both wake a lot earlier than the Capitol thought. After all, they wouldn't want the tributes escaping in the night since there aren't any guards on these tribute levels. He looks at me for a second then just starts down the hall to the dining room.

"What?" I ask.

"I just, hope Hagger can actually help us. I mean, if he can't, we can use bows and hunting knives, but on people?" he says.

"I don't wanna even think about that part yet. Okay?" I ask him. Because I really don't want to think about slitting someone's throat. Killing them.

"Why not? It's happening whether you want it to or not," he says.

"I just, I can't. I can't end a life." I tell him. Though I'm sure when the time comes, I'll kill just like everyone else.

"Get ready. It's gonna happen," he says. Then he walks away to get breakfast.

"Yeah. It's gonna happen." I whisper to the now empty hallways.

When I finally get to the dining room in the training building, Jason and Hagger are sitting at the table talking in hushed tones. But I decide to get food before I join them. I almost faint at the sight of the bounty awaiting me. There's enough food in front of me to last my family a year. This is just breakfast?! Man. Capitol people really DO have it easy. They not only don't have to send anyone into the arena, but they have unlimited food. They never have anything to worry about!

I eat a big bowl of thick broth. Then eat a huge helping of mashed potatoes and a chicken in a smooth sauce that has a hint of lemon that dances on my tongue. Then there's a glass of something sweet and orange. They say it's orange juice. There's also a mug of something thick and sweet.

"They call it hot chocolate. It's good," Jason tells me.

"It is good," I say after taking a small sip, then placing it back down to cool off since the warm chocolate burns my tongue.

Then Hagger finally decides to start asking us questions about our strengths and weaknesses. I tell him I can use a knife and bow. Jason says the same. Then he asks us if we want to be trained together or alone.

"What? Why would we train alone?" I ask.

"Say one of you has a special talent you don't want the other to know about." So Jason never told him that we wanted to be a team, allies? Hm.

"We're gonna ally." I say. Because I know this is what we both want.

"Ah," Hagger says.

"Well then, we'd better get started," Hagger says, as he leads us to the elevator at the end of the hall.

"We never talked about this." Jason whispers to me on the way to the elevator.

"I didn't think we needed to," I say.

"I mean you never asked me." He tells me.

"Wait a second!" I yell at him, stopping Hagger and making him look back.

"What is going on?" Hagger asks.

"Nothing. Just that I know who I'm killing first in the arena." I say and walk away into the elevator.

I walk into the elevator, and the tears are already pouring out of my eyes. Jason comes after me, and he wraps his arms around me, apologizing.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to talk about it," he says.

"But I never said I didn't wanna ally," he tells me.

"Well, are we?" I ask him.

"You know we are," he says.

I would have never killed him. I just, I thought he would want to ally without any question. I have to keep believing that we're on the same side. I can't do this alone.

We go down to the training area, and there are so many weapons that my breath is taken away: bows, mace, spears, slingshots, knives, axes, and all different kinds of arrows. There are even shooting ranges and targets, targets shaped like a human being.

"Where to first?" Jason asks Hagger.

"I would say you should use your training time to learn something you don't know. Throw a spear, learn some edible plants, and in case it wasn't already pretty clear, no berries! Not any! Never eat them if they're in the arena! They're all poisonous. Usually." Then he leaves, and it's just me and Jason left alone in the huge gym.

I throw a few spears, but it's apparent that spears aren't for me. I throw some knives and I'm about average, hitting the center only sometimes. I finally break down and use an hour at the archery station. It's wonderful. Moving targets that fly like birds, still targets that present no challenge. Jason and I then go to the edible plants station and learn about different spices and poisonous berries and things.

Then we go to the knot tying station where there are pamphlets about how to make snares and such, but Jason and I already know every snare known to man.

"So what'd you learn at school?" Hagger asks as he walks into the gymnasium.

"Well, neither of us are very good with spears, but we learned how to use these fancy Capitol bows and arrows, and we even did some knife throwing," Jason tells him.

"Good. Good. What about you?" He asks me.

"I, I didn't really learn anything. I knew most of it, but yeah the bows and arrows were just a bit different." I tell him.

"All right well, you're going into the arena tomorrow morning." he says.

So, my life will most likely be ending in the next 36 hours. Great.

We head up the elevator to supper, and we're served some of the best food in the world. Chicken on a wild rice with sweet brown sauce, and good rich stew that has beef, corn, and even potatoes in it. At the end, as if the rest of the meal wasn't enough, we have a huge cake that's vanilla with red cherries and ice cream on the side. It's dunked in sugar and tastes really sweet. This single meal could last my family 3 months!

"So you're nervous?" asks Jason as I stuff myself.

I stop to answer him and wipe my face with a napkin.

"Yeah, I guess. But it's funny. I'm scared out of my wits, yet when I think about it, I'll be in the woods, free to hunt, and I'll have you," I say.

He literally blushes. It's kind of funny, him being a boy and all.

"I don't think you'll be thinking about me when there're 22 other kids hunting us down. They by the way are in this very building as we speak," he tells me.

"Oh, I can dream happy thoughts, can't I?" I say.

Hagger and he crack up.

"Sorry sweetie, but there's no free time fur dreamin' in that arena!" Hagger says, laughing.

"Oh shut up." I say, laughing as well.

Well, at least, I can pretend that I'm not going in the arena tomorrow morning. I am determined to make this the best night of my life. I'm going to enjoy everything this shiny building has to offer. So I'm enjoying it. Besides, it's probably my last.

I wander to my room and close the door behind me, grabbing a towel off the dresser.

I find my way into the large bathroom and take my shoes and socks off, then I mess with the controls on the shower until a bubbly mixture of soap and warm water is spraying down onto the tiles.

The water disappears into a drain on the floor. I take my dirty clothes off and leave them on the floor in my bedroom, not exactly caring about keeping the place clean.

I step underneath the soapy spray of water and lean my head up to meet it. The soap starts getting in my eyes and the water is much too hot on my skin, but I stay there for a full minute, enjoying it, never having had a hot shower, much less a warm one.

I grab a bottle of green slimy stuff with bubbles in it and pour some into my hand. Then I smell it. It smells like a ripe apple. I like the smell, and I pour the soapy slime on my head and let it slide down my back and all the way down to the floor. It disappears into the drain just like the soapy water.

There's another bottle of something next to the... Apple Slime? I grab it and pour some into my hand. This stuff is thicker and smoother. I dab my finger in it and bring my finger to my nose. This stuff smells like... cold strawberries. I let the substance flow down my hair and into the drain just like the Apple Slime.

I scrub the last of the bubbles out of my hair and step out of the running water. Then I grab the towel I brought in here with me.

I tie the towel around my middle and go over to the mirror with sinks underneath it. There are about a million containers of face soaps and make-up and things I don't even have names for, but I grab a few and smell them, making up little names for each one.

After I've place them all back where I found them and go back to my bedroom, where the door is left ajar. I hurry over to it and close the door. I notice my dirty clothing is gone. It has been replaced by a pair of flannel pajama pants and a pajama shirt.

Both of them are thick and warm. I slide into the warm pajamas and crawl underneath the covers on my bed, deciding to try and get some sleep for tomorrow.

But at about eleven-thirty I realize that it's futile, and I wander back over to my door, trying the knob. The door glides opened and I step out. Then I feel a cool breeze come from the end of the hallway. A door is opened wide, and I hear a conversation going on above me on the roof.

At this moment I should've turned around, realized my door being opened was a mistake, sprinted back into bed and pretend to have never been awake.

But instead I didn't. I crept down the hall to the doorway and listened.

As I sit next to the door listening to the conversation, I hear a familiar voice. I've heard it somewhere. Yes, I know I've heard it. Maybe an old relative? No! I know who it is... President Vincent.

"Vincent, I'm not sure if you're aware of the circumstances in district thirteen, but they have their nuclear bombs pointing right at us!" A man says in a hushed voice.

"Are all the doors down their locked?" President Vincent replies to him.

"Of course they are!" Another man answers.

"Good. And I've already taken care of district thirteen! They want to be left alone to live in their little groundhog holes, just leave them alone. They'll starve to death eventually!" The President answers in a hushed tone.

I back up from the door and silently rush back to my room. I close the door behind me and force my eyes shut, knowing that I shouldn't have ever heard that.

I wake up the next morning to a Capitol servant shaking me.

She nods towards the door and points to her watch. I don't see why she didn't just say something...Anyway, Jason meets me for breakfast, and we stay silent until I speak.

"So, what's the plan?" I ask him.

"We'll run. I don't wanna take chances with the cornucopia," he tells me.

"I guess, but being unarmed..." I begin.

"It won't matter. The rest of um'll be using these weapons just as they've been doing it their whole lives. We don't stand much of a chance at that close range. Bows are better for far distances." he interrupts.

"I guess, but what if there's a bow in that pile?" I say.

"It won't do you any good. You'd have to get a knife to defend yourself at close range, then get your hands on the bow, and make sure no one followed you into the woods when you ran. It's too hard Maysilee," he says.

"Yeah, I guess so." I tell him. But I really want a bow. It'd make me feel so much safer.

Then Hagger walks in and tells us it's time to go.

"It's time to pull out. Good luck you two," he says.

"Okay, comin."

"Come on Maysilee." Jason says holding out his hand to me.

We're in this together. I hope I have a quick death, for Sophie's sake and Jason's if he's nearby.

We walk into a blimp kind of thing, and it takes off. We slide through the air for miles, then the windows black out, and we're in darkness for about three seconds, but then the lights come on again.

We land, and we're allowed to go into our individual launch areas.

I'll be alone in here while I get dressed for the arena. In front of me hanging on a black hook is a black jacket with jeans and a pair of hiking boots. The shoes are good for running, which is probably a good thing for me. There's a plain t-shirt to wear under the jacket.

I guess there'll be some cold nights cause the jacket is pretty thick. But it's far better than nothing I suppose.

I enter my tube. It will lift me into the arena at the ten second mark. The glass tube around me will stay active the sixty seconds we are up. That way no one goes anywhere until it's time. The gong'll sound and the other tributes and I will be free to move off our plates.

I see Jason three plates to the left of me. He sees me, and he looks almost calm. I look to the woods behind us and he nods. That's where Hagger and Jason will want me to go.

But look at the cornucopia! So many weapons! Even two bows right next to each other! With arrows and everything! No. Jason will be running, and he'll worry if I don't come. But I satisfy my need for something with a loaf of bread two feet in front of me that I've decided to scoop up before I leave.

The gong sounds, and my tube literally evaporates into thin air. I scoop up my bread and run! I spot Jason a few tributes to my left as he runs right next to me carrying something. He got a pack? I guess it was in front of him like my bread was. We get to the tree line and don't hesitate to dive in. We clear about a mile before we have to begin jogging instead of sprinting. We keep going for about another two miles, and finally we stop for a rest.

"How you doin?" Jason asks.

"Thirsty. You?" I say.

"Tired. I didn't sleep last night and regret it now."

"Well, we'll find a source of water, then stay there for the night. How's that sound?" I ask.

"Fine," he says.

Just then I hear the leaves shaking, and we watch a brown haired boy running an all-out sprint about thirty feet to our right. We take off in the other direction though I doubt he's following us. He looked like he was running from the cornucopia just like us. What an idiot, making all that noise. Bet he'll get killed tonight when the Careers from districts one, two, and four hunt. We heard they trained for a long time before the match. We stay as silent as possible and keep moving.

We finally stop when it's apparent Jason can't keep going much longer, and I pick a place next to a valley thinking we will have more cover here. We can find water tomorrow. I lie down next to Jason and keep from shivering since our body heat is decently warm when it's combined.

Jason immediately goes out. He'll be rested by tomorrow. I stay up till about 10PM. Then eleven cannons go off, so I guess we'll see eleven faces in the sky tonight. I know not one person. The blood bath lasted a long time. Good. That means the Careers won't be able to find us until tomorrow since we traveled too far for them to reach us tonight, if they're still at the cornucopia, which I hope they are.

In the morning I shake Jason awake and tell him we have to see what we have in the pack. We need to know what we have to work with.

There's a spool of wire, a box of matches, a pack of dried fruits, some bread, and a water bottle. It's empty. My tongue is like sandpaper. We head off, but eventually, we break down and eat two bits of bread, and each of us has a dried pear half. It helps calm my stomach, but does little to quench my thirst. We decide to rest a while before moving on.

We heard them coming. Of course, they found us! We are sitting on the ground! We should've chosen a tree. I knew it!

No time to think about that now. Jason and I take off, and eventually when we realize they're gaining too much on us and will catch us in a matter of seconds; we scale a tree. Just as they get to us Jason is lifting me up. The first boy that breaks through the tree line gets in the tree and lifts his sword to defend himself from anything we could throw at him, but we're defenseless.

When I finally think we're high up enough to be safe, and he can't climb anymore, I look down at him, and he cuts my ankle along the side of the bottom of my pants. I give a small yelp, but the pain makes me even more certain that I have to keep climbing, for my life.

Jason allows me to pass him, seeing my ankle and eventually the branches get too thin for that big, strong boy. He slips and crashes down to the ground. We're getting to a very dangerous height, but we're safe from the Careers.

I guess the boy that fell got hurt because no one else came to get us at the height we are in our tree.

We stop a bit further up and choose a nice thick branch to perch on. I put out my leg and Jason rips a sleeve off his shirt and ties it around my ankle to stop the bleeding. It hurts more than any cut or scrape I've ever had. It is going to take a while to heal, but we have no time off in the arena, so I'll have to make do. Wait, I think to myself. Hagger could send medicine! Those sponsor thingies he was talking about. The uh... What were they? Silver parachutes! They drop things for the tributes in the arena.

"Hagger! Medicine! Please!" I half whisper, half yell into the air.

Nothing comes. I knew it. He's probably off signing autographs for Capitol people or something. They do love people on TV, even though he's a known murderer. But it seems he doesn't care about us.

Jason and I settle down for the night even if it's only early afternoon, and we decide to rest. I go out and then wake to Jason shaking me slightly, and I see a silvery thing in his hand and the pain in my ankle has left me. Hagger! He did it! He sent us medicine!

"Thank you." I whisper to the air. It's midnight, and the Careers below us are asleep, and from the boy guard's position against a tree, it looks like he went out when he was supposed to be keeping watch. Jason and I go back to sleep, and with the medicine I can finally have a restful night, even if the people who are asleep below me are planning to kill me in the morning. There are no faces in the sky tonight, but the audience will be watching contently as Jason and I are stuck in a tree with the Careers below us.

We have to escape!

I wake to hear the Careers whispering below us. Jason is still asleep, and it's probably a bad idea to try and wake him. It would let the Careers know that we are awake and listening. I listen contently for a long while. I also realize that they're all armed and itching to use their weapons.

One voice says, "Oh why can't we just send up one of the smaller girls to take care of them?" I think that was the big heavy boy that got hurt trying to climb up here last night.

"What if they're armed? I mean, knives are a possibility," says a girl.

"Well, I'm amazed. We're sitting here looking stupid! One of you get up there and kill them already!" says another boy who seems mad.

"You know if we kill them, I can't move on. My neck and my leg still feel like jelly!" says the boy that fell.

"Oh my gosh!" Says the other boy as he storms off. A girl follows him and they whisper to each other. I pick up enough to understand their plan.

"Let's leave him here. I mean he's injured and with that bleeding, he'll be dead in a matter of days," says the girl.

"All right, what about them?" He says motioning up the tree.

"Well, I can get up there. They're still asleep. I can kill the boy, then the girl. My knife'll work fine," she says.

"Be careful, I'm not going to the final two without you." He says and kisses her cheek. I assume they're from the same district. Love birds. How sweet. Not.

"I will be. See you soon." She says and begins to scale the tree.

I move into a position that allows me to be hidden in some leaves and to have the ability to pounce right on her when she comes up.

She reaches us, and when she swings her leg up, I jump onto her back and tug her so hard she begins to fall from the tree with me on her back. I grab an almost stubby branch on the way down, and she plummets to the ground. The boy from her district sits next to her as she huffs her last breath. She fell a much greater distance than the boy. I'm not surprised when I hear the cannon. It also awakens Jason, who before saying a thing pulls me up to our little nook in the trees.

The Careers begin a discussion, and Jason and I listen.

"This is your fault!" yells the boy who loved the girl who is lying on the ground dead. He points at me.

"Yeah it is! And I'm glad!" I yell back with a smirk on my face.

"What?" Jason asks.

"I'll explain later," I say.

"I'll kill him! Your little boyfriend!" Then he continues to yell a lot of terrible things at his allies and at me.

"How about I kill you?!" I yell down, even though I'm unarmed.

"Yeah right! With what!?" he yells.

"Jason hand me the bow and arrows." I say loud enough for them to hear.

It's amazing how quickly they run, the boy and the other girl. The injured one lying on the ground, stares into space; he looks like he's just as dead as the girl beside him. I feel bad for him. But not enough to help him. I wait for the remaining two Careers to be long gone. Then Jason and I go down. When we get down, we search the girl's pack, and the boy's, who has no way of stopping us. His cannon goes off.

In the girl's pack we find a compass, package of dried fruit, a water bottle, and the knife she tried to kill us with. I find a bottle of water on the boy, and it's half-full, same as the girl's. Jason and I are so thirsty we don't hesitate to both take a deep gulp of water. We pour half the water in each of our containers, and we head off in the opposite direction of the Careers.

We reach a kind of cave that sticks out of the side of a hill at about the time the moon is rising, and we take shelter in it for the night. It's pretty warm in here, and there's even a little pool of spring-fed water in the back of the cave. I'm starving and so is Jason, so we each eat half a pack of dried fruit. It in no way satisfies my stomach. Jason and I go outside of our cave and with the last rays of sunlight, we set 12 wire snares. I did see a few rabbits in this area of the woods when we were coming here, so I wouldn't be surprised if we catch one tonight.

As we're entering the cave for the night, the sky lights up, and there's a projection of the boy that bled to death and the girl that I suppose I killed.

We both retire to the cave and fall asleep. Jason is out like a light and just as I'm going to sleep too the anthem begins and I stare out into the darkness. I watch three faces move across the sky. I guess we missed a cannon at some point today. That means there are ten of us left. We're dropping like flies.

In the morning I fill our water bottles and get our packs in order. I wake Jason, and we go out and each of us checks six snares. From mine I get one fat rabbit. Jason shows me that he got a squirrel and a rabbit, and I claim he just got lucky. Though both of us know it's because he's better with snares than I could ever be.

We clean the animals, and we decide to start a fire and hope that the morning fog conceals the smoke. It does conceal it nicely, and I'm betting the Careers are too far off to notice our smoke anyway. Jason and I are famished, and we both eat half the squirrel. I weave a bit of a sack out of the tall grasses that grow beside the small stream that a leak in the cave's spring created on the outside of the cave. I put the two rabbits in the sack, and Jason and I decide to leave six snares set, but just in case we need to move, we take the other half of wire and put it in our pack. We each have half the supplies now. I have the pack that was on the boy that bled to death, and Jason has the pack that he got from the cornucopia. Jason let me keep the knife with me since I can throw it with more accuracy.

As I arrange my few belongings in my pack, I think to myself who exactly is left. The boy from one, the girl from two, the boy and girl from five, the girl from seven, the boy from eight, the girl from ten, the boy from eleven, and Jason and I. So there're ten of us left, fourteen dead.

The only teams I know of are the Careers from one and two and Jason and I are teamed. That's all I know. For all I know there could be a whole team of six out there made up of the non-career people.

Jason comes up to me and plops down on a rock outside of the cave.

"When are we moving out?" he asks.

"As soon as you're off your butt." I say throwing a handful of leaves at him.

"Fair enough," he says.

"Where to?" I ask looking in different directions, trying to decide what kind of area we want to be in, what areas offer the most cover and protection.

"Hmmmm..." He wonders quite a while.

"Let's move this way." He says to continue in the opposite direction the Careers took as they fled us when we lied to them about our fake bow.

"Fine," I say and we start off.

We walk for a while, and it's about noon when we hear a cannon.

"Wonder who that was?" I say, wondering.

"No telling, maybe the Careers found someone," Jason says.

"Maybe someone found the Careers," I say.

We keep moving until at about 2 or 3 in the afternoon when we are forced to stop and each eat a rabbit leg to keep our stomachs from growling. I take out a duck with the knife when we stop at a pond to refill our water supply. I grab it from the water and remove the weapon from its body. We decide to wait until dark and then make a fire to roast it. That way no one will see our smoke. We keep moving till dusk, then make a fire and roast our duck and both have a piece of rabbit. As far as food, we have 1 and a third rabbits, a duck, and half a pack of dried fruit.

We're all right as long as we keep snaring and killing animals as we move. We set some snares and climb a tree for the night.

I wake up to the feeling of the tree moving. It's no dream. I sense danger one moment before the shaking of our tree begins. I am shrieking Jason's name at the top of my lungs as I grip a branch and watch as the huge boy from district eleven shakes our tree from the trunk. He's too big to get up, so he's trying to bring us down. It keeps shaking for almost a half hour, and finally when I believe he's stopped shaking it, I relax my muscles and it's a mistake. I fall and go crashing to the ground after he shakes the tree once again. My head gets hit on a branch on the way down, but now isn't the best time to look at it. Besides it doesn't feel too bad, just a bruise. He gets on top of me and yells so loud that my ears hurt.

"DID YOU KILL HER?!" He shouts loud enough to wake the dead.

"Who?!" I'm terrified.

"THE GIRL FROM ONE! SHE HAD A BOYFRIEND!" He shouts again.

"Yes, I shoved her off the tree Jason and I were in!" I am so scared.

"The girl you killed, her boyfriend from one killed my ally. I felt bad for the little girl from seven and made her my ally. The district one boy came and found us. The Little girl tried to run, but before I could blink, he caught her and...

"I ran and as I ran, I dropped a handful of darts on the ground. I got away as they pulled them out of their feet." He just seems upset now.

I stand up, realizing he isn't going to kill me.

"I'll see you at final three," he says, then takes off for the woods.

"Come on Jason! Let's go..." I yell up to Jason, although he probably heard the whole thing unfold underneath him.

"Let's get out of here. I'll bet everyone knows where we are now! Let's move!" he yells back.

"All right!" I yell back. Then we move on and keep going until nightfall.

It's dark and I realize we'd better choose a tree or somewhere to sleep that's safe. Probably a flimsy tree is a bad idea considering what happened when we were in that little tree last night.

We find a nice large oak and it's sturdily built, so we scale it and when we're going to sleep and I lean my head against Jason's shirt to use as a sort of pillow.

I move my fingers along where I hit my head on the way down from the tree and find a nice big bump. It doesn't hurt much though, so I close my eyes and try to sleep.

Then the anthem begins and the girl from district seven flashes in the sky. No more deaths today. It's probably getting rather boring in the Capitol.

I go to sleep and wake up to the sound of a fire starting. Jason is already up and watching the fire starters sit at their fire.

"Girl and Boy from five. Heard them talking earlier as they made the fire." Jason whispers to me.

I nod in assent and we watch them. They have one knife. That's all. We'd be even in a fight, but we'd have the surprise factor on our side. The girl falls asleep and the knife is in her belt. This is our only chance.

We go down our tree and sneak around to them. I jump on the girl and grab the knife from her belt. Jason grabs the boy and puts the knife I toss to him into his neck. I hold my knife to the girl's neck and she's crying. She's screaming, "Jared! Jared! Jared!" I suppose that was the boy's name. His cannon goes off.

I put the knife right on the girl's throat, about to do it. When she flips me onto the ground, grabs my knife and she's on me. She holds up the knife to my throat just as Jason is reaching her.

"Stand back! Or your girl here is dead!" She snarls. Jason is still tired from just waking up, and I can tell he is still half sure this is a dream.

"Jason do it. Stand back." I say.

"Maysilee." He says. "I..."

"Run. Just run..." I reply.

I realize there is no way I can get away. I close my eyes and await death.

Jason takes his knife and holds it up to his own throat.

"If you're going out I am too," he says.

"Jason you can't! Go home! Win the games for both of us!" I scream.

"I can't. Not without you," he says.

The girl holding the knife to my throat drops the knife to her side. She lets me go, and I run to Jason and grab the knife away from his throat. The girl takes the knife and jabs it into her own heart.

"I...I can't separate you. You love each other. Go home together." She says as she falls to the ground.

Her cannon goes off. I'll remember her and I silently thank her for my life.

It's midday and Jason and I each have a piece of rabbit and now we have only a duck, rabbit, and a bit of dried fruit left. It'll last long enough.

We move this way and that until we come across an old oak and scale it. We sight a lake a few miles away from the top of the tree. That'll be where we'll head tomorrow. The anthem begins and Jason and I watch the district five tributes shine in the sky.

There's only seven of us left. The boy from district one, the girl from two, the boy from eight, the girl from ten, the boy that let me go from eleven, and, of course, Jason and I. I wonder if anyone has joined the Careers' little squad lately, since they were down to two people last time we saw them. Usually if you have an alliance like the Careers you want enough people to scare everyone away with. Also to make sure no one else has as much of a chance of teaming with somebody. Sometimes I think if the other districts had formed a large alliance, then we could have easily taken on the Careers.

I go to sleep with Jason next to me. We realize that the arena has gotten colder at night time, and we have begun to sleep so close together that at times I have to laugh because I'm so squished. But it's warm and that's really all that matters when it's as cold as it is.

I wake with the tip of my nose as cold as an icicle. Jason is freezing too. I wake him and we move around to warm up. When I can finally feel my fingers, we move in the direction of the lake. I can't believe what we see as we enter the clearing beside to the lake. Three Careers sitting in fold-up chairs eating breakfast. They went to the cornucopia and brought it all here?! Then the cornucopia must be close. There's the boy from one, the girl from two, and it looks like the boy from eight joined them.

Jason and I sink back into the woods and they never see us. This is a lovely spying place though, we can even hear a bit of what they're saying.

"If we find them today, I get to kill her in my own way. Nobody is allowed to interfere!" says the boy from one. Somehow I don't think that he's referring to the girl from eight.

"Fine, but I get him. We could make her watch," says the girl from two. Okay, it's official, the Careers hate us.

"Could I come? I mean, I can throw a spear," asks the boy from eight.

"What did we tell you about talking!?" screams the boy from one.

"Not to," says district eight boy. He stays silent.

"That's right! Or we kill you!" says the district two girl.

Why are they sparing him if they don't want his help? Is he really expected to guard their supplies? Jason and I could kill him easily.

"All right. Come on Nikki," Says the boy from one. They take off into the woods.

Jason and I wait until the district eight boy is refilling his water bottle to attack, Jason from one side of the lake, me from the other. The district eight boy raises his spear. He throws it in my direction and I evade a fatal hit, but it still skids across my side. It's not too bad. I keep charging. Jason and I reach him at about the same time. He's breaking open a pack filled with knives. He throws three in Jason's direction and four in mine.

Jason pins him to the ground. I hold his own spear to his heart.

"I'll kill them! Let me live and I'll kill the Careers! Please!" he begs.

Hm...I guess.

"You don't and when your friends leave tomorrow, we'll kill you." I snarl at him.

"I'll do it!" he says, terrified.

"Hold him there, I'm looking through their supplies," I say.

They have almost no food left and are probably gonna have to hunt soon, so I just leave it. They have an amazing assortment of knives. I take three. Jason asks for three. I get him some, and while I hold the boy down, he sees if there is anything else he wants. Nothing. He's happy with his knives. We leave the boy at the camp and melt into the woods to watch our plan be carried out.

We reach the woods and find a safe, sturdy, unshakable tree. I pull up my shirt and look at the cut the spear left on my side. Jason's foot got cut by one of the knives that the boy threw. His wound isn't too bad, but he still wraps it up.

My cut isn't too deep, but it hurts, and I mean hurts. It's like a burn. It stings when I have my shirt down on it, but if I don't keep my shirt on it'll rub on the tree bark and get the cut dirty and infected. I wrap it in a bit of clothe from my head bandage that really has no purpose since my head is now as good as new. I unwrap my head and use the bandage around my middle. It feels better when I don't have to look at it.

The Careers unhappily stroll into their camp and immediately the girl goes to sleep. She looks exhausted. They must've done a lot of hunting for tributes today. Not surprised they couldn't find anyone. There's only two people out there. The boy from eight finally gets impatient and risks talking to get the district one boy in bed.

"Aren't you tired? I'll do the first watch." He ventures cautiously.

"Yeah? Why?" He asks, suspecting a trap.

"Just figured you'd be tired. If you wanna stay up, I'll just get to bed." He says fake yawning. He stands and begins to walk over to the sleeping bags.

"No way you're getting to sleep! I feel like I went to the moon and back! You take the watch. I'm exhausted," says the district one guy, not caring that he may be entering a trap, only wanting sleep.

I watch for a while and I guess when the district eight boy finally decides it's safe, he takes his knife up and throws it right into Nikki's stomach. The district one boy wakens. He's prepared for the knife coming in his direction and evades it, mostly. He does get hit pretty bad in the upper right leg though.

Nikki's as good as dead, but he missed her heart.

The district eight boy runs for the woods. The district one boy goes in pursuit, leaving Nikki.

"Brandon! Brandon! Brandon!" She yells. I guess that's the boy from one's name.

I wish I could say: just close your eyes and stop making yourself miserable. He's not coming back. I climb down the tree and Jason follows me. We cross the plain to Nikki and she is weaponless. I sit down next to her and she begins talking.

"Please just kill me. I can't do anything about it now! Please kill me!" she begs.

"What can't you do anything about?" I ask, curiously.

"I wanted to fix it! I really did!" she says.

"Fix what!" I ask.

She puffs out her last breath and she's dead.

Jason is beside me when her cannon goes off.

"What'd she say?" Jason asks.

"I don't know, she died before she could tell me." I say confused.

"Hm. Well, what do you wanna do now?" he asks.

"Let's grab some sleeping bags and burn the rest." I take two sleeping bags and we stuff them in our packs.

We burn the supplies we don't want. That way Brandon can't have them when he comes back after chasing that district eight boy.

There's a huge inferno of fire once all of the things we don't want are burning. Then something catches my eye. Something in the pile of weapons we didn't want. There's a shining golden bow and a burning sheath of arrows.

I run to the pile and grab the bow and arrows and throw them into the lake and put my hands in the cool water as well. I have a bow and arrows! Jason and I could win now! He has his knives and with me having a bow, we could really win.

My hands feel like they're on fire even though I have them dangling in the cool lake water. Jason asks me if we should move for the night into a tree or something, but I can't stand having my hands out of the water for more than a couple seconds. We stay at the burning camp overnight. In the morning I wake up to Jason shaking me.

"Hagger did it! He hasn't forgotten us!" Jason says ripping open a sponsor gift.

It has a bottle of medicine. It smells like the stuff we use for burns back home. I can finally leave the lake.

I apply a coat of medicine to my hands and the burning sensation disappears. Thank you, Hagger.

"Thanks," I say to the blue sky.

"You think we can move now?" Jason asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine now that my hands aren't on fire," I say.

We move in the opposite direction the boy from district eight took as he was chased by Brandon.

We keep moving until about three in the afternoon. As we sit by a stream eating duck, we hear the loud boom of a cannon. I think there goes district eight boy.

"I guess Brandon is on his own," Jason says.

"What about the district ten girl?" I reply. I know the huge district eleven boy won't ever ally with Brandon.

"Probably out there somewhere hiding. I don't think Brandon would team at this point anyway," Jason says.

"Why not? It would help him," I ask.

"At this point I think the only thing teaming would get either of them is a knife in the back," he says.

"True," I say understanding what he means.

Just then there is a rustling in the leaves and a huge pack of wild lion monster things come from the brush, and Jason and I take off running backward. Toward the lake. Toward the cornucopia. Toward the place where the Capital is sure to get a bloody fight out of us. Out in the open. The lions are gaining on us every second, and we eventually emerge on the open plain where we started the games. Just then there is a shriek from the other side of the cornucopia.

Jason and I continue running from the beasts. I realize this may be the finale of the games. I decide the safest place is the cornucopia. On top of it. Jason doesn't hesitate to come up after me, seeing the pack of lions is on his heels. They claw at his feet as he climbs up, me helping him. We are on the top now and I look over the other side. There is a huge lion on top of the girl from district ten. She has wavy blond hair. Eyes as green as emeralds. I remember her name. She was the one that everyone thought of as the prettiest tribute. Because of that hair and those eyes. Her name was...Ginger!

She looks so scared. She's only about fourteen. Not nearly as big as the rest of us. I can't help feeling sorry for her. The dog takes one final bite of her throat, and I watch her die. She's dead, but then she starts flailing around. Then her cannon goes off. She transforms before my eyes to a ravage beast. The dead tributes. All of them. They are the ones coming after us now. The big one that was on her...Nikki!

Nikki was always a big, strong girl. That coat the dog wears is the same as Nikki's hair was. The small blond dog is yipping and clawing the golden surface of the cornucopia. I guess the Capitol has a lot of free time. To make humans transform into lions. One of the many reasons I hate the Capitol. The only things they do are against us. Never with us.

Jason snaps me back to reality.

"Maysilee! Wake up!" he screams.

I realize I'm standing on the golden cornucopia staring into space, thinking to myself about the lions who are the opponents who have already been killed.

Just then the big boy from district eleven comes barreling onto the open plain, being chased by Brandon. Brandon is wielding the silver sword that he got from the cornucopia when the game started. I lift my bow, position an arrow, and let it fly into Brandon's heart. He collapses on the ground. His cannon goes off. I look away. I don't want to watch even him change into a beast of a lion.

The lions have given chase to the district eleven boy, and I realize if I kill him, or if the lions kill him, Jason and I are going to have to fight. To kill one and other. The big boy from eleven is jumped on by a lion that can only be Brandon. Who else could be that big and powerful? The district eleven boy's cannon goes off.

Before Jason can do anything, I shove my own knife into my heart. As I fall from the cornucopia, onto the ground, I silently say goodbye to Sophie and Eli. Good luck guys, I hope you grow up to have children that aren't drawn into any reapings.

I hit the ground, close my eyes, and just as I drift away, I hear a boom of a cannon that can only mean that I let Jason win. My mission is complete. He got home. I can only think of one thing as I'm leaving life, I wish you the best of luck Jason.

**THE END**


	2. Chapter 2

**Lost Part 2**

My name is Sophie, I'm 13 years old and my sister died in the first Death Match. I live in district twelve. My older sister Maysilee and her friend Jason were in the arena together, and she killed herself to save him. I want Jason to come home. I want to thank him for trying to bring her home, even if he failed.

A few days after I start hoping Jason will come home, the train pulls into our rundown station, and he steps off the train and immediately goes into his family's arms. They hug him and kiss him, and then he breaks off and comes and whispers something I just barely pick up in my ear.

"I'm sorry," he says and walks off with his family.

I run after him.

"It's okay. There's nothing you could've done, Jason. She had made up her mind to save you," I say.

"I wanted to save her though," he says.

"Jason, it wasn't your fault," I say.

"Thanks Sophie, but it was," he says and walks into his house.

I walk into my house and I run upstairs. I have tried to be strong for Eli and dad, but I can't. I'm crying so hard that when my dad comes in, he has to wait until I'm done crying to talk to me.

"Maysilee was very special to you. That's why you're so sad. She did what she did because she wanted to help someone else. You should be nothing but proud of her," my father says.

"THE REASON SHE WAS IN THAT ARENA WAS BECAUSE SHE WAS LOST IN THOSE STUPID WOODS YOU SHOWED HER!" I scream at him.

I run outside and hide in my old clubhouse that's way too small for me. I hear my dad calling me back inside, but I can sleep here tonight. I don't want to be anywhere near him. This is all his fault.

I wake up with my neck twisted up because there is so little room in this old clubhouse. Then I straighten up and crawl outside. It's about eight in the morning, and I go inside to feed Eli. Dad has beaten me to it though.

"Morning," he says in a nice voice.

"Morning..." I say, wondering where that dad that doesn't pay half a mind to me has gone.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Better than ever Sophie. Better than ever..." he says. He looks at me a long time and finally I drop my stare. I sense he's sad inside, just trying not to show it.

"I'm...gonna go see Jason...," I say and walk across the street.

I knock on the door and Jason answers.

"Sorry...about yesterday..." I mumble.

"It's okay Sophie," he says. "Do anything fun while I was gone?" he asks with a hint of sarcasm.

"During the games, we had a little meat in the cabinet that I brought over here. We had it the first night. Then we had the vegetables from our gardens till the games were over. Your mom had the good idea of sharing everything, so we wouldn't run out. Did they say anything to you about what happened while you were gone?" I ask him.

"Well, they say they were fine, but I think they were scared," he says. I know he's right about that. The whole time Jason was at the games his mom and brothers and sister were scared to death.

"Yeah, they were. Do you want to walk to town with me? I'm going to pick up some milk," I ask him.

"Sure," he says and puts his arm around me the way he used to when we were little and he would tickle me and lift me into the air and play airplane, while Maysilee held Eli up and bounced him as he laughed...I move away because the feeling of his arm is alien with no Maysilee next to me.

"What's wrong?" he asks. There's no question he was thinking the same thing.

"You know." I say and the look on his face says he does. We walk to the town center in silence.

There are a few people being talked to by some guards who are over by the shops, so Jason and I hang out at the jewelry tables near the shops, not that Jason likes it over there. It's mostly because I want to look at the necklaces.

"You like that?" He asks as I lift a light blue necklace with a gorgeous silver flower hanging on it.

"It's pretty," I say and place it back down, "but I think it's around..." I pick the price-tag up. "1 million dollars..." I tease. "I could never afford that." I put it down and we walk over to the woman who sells goat milk.

I buy a small bottle from her because that's the only one I can afford. A guard walks up to Jason.

"You Jason? Victor of the games?" He asks looking over a piece of paper.

"Yeah...why?" he asks.

"Here," he hands him a slip of paper and walks away.

Jason reads what it says aloud. "As victor you have received a new home in our just built Victor Village and a well deserved reward check. Happy Deathmatch of the Districts! Good job winning!" He reads and looks as if he's about to faint.

"How much money?!" I squeal.

"Oh my...Gosh," he says as he looks at the check.

"How much!?"

"1 million dollars," he says not believing it himself.

"Wow," Is all I can think of to say.

"Sophie! Come on! Let's go buy that necklace!" he says spur of the moment.

We run over to the necklace stand and see a woman paying for the necklace I wanted.

Jason cashes in his check and takes all the money into his pocket.

"I'll give you one-hundred dollars for that necklace," he tells her holding up the hundred dollar bill.

She rips the necklace off and grabs the money and runs down the road shrieking.

I laugh and put on the necklace.

"Thank you so much Jason. It's beautiful!" I say.

"No problem Sophie. Here," he says handing me a handful of money.

"Really?!" I ask in astonishment.

"Maysilee would've done the same for my family," he says, and we walk home feeling happy, but there's still a sadness inside of me that I feel I will never truly escape.

Late one day, Jason asked my family and me to come and have dinner with them at their new house, which hadn't been finished until now, almost eight months after the games. We've been sitting around for a long while, just trying to forget, but it's to no avail.

We accepted the invitation, a while ago, but tonight both families walk together to the Victor's Village. It's lonely there. No children playing outside, no...nothing, just twelve fine houses. We enter the one assigned to Jason, and it's amazing!

There's a big, shiny, black TV. There's a hanging chandelier, a kitchen with beautiful stoves, and even one of those dishwasher things you can buy in town.

"Oh my gosh," Jason says as he walks around.

"This is all for us?" Jason's mother asks amazed.

"We get to live here?!" Jason's little brothers ask.

"Yeah, we do," Jason says lifting his youngest brother into the air.

"YAY!" Jason's brothers shout and run up the stairs to explore.

His little sister hangs on tight to her mother's leg and doesn't seem like she wants to go and play, and Eli is so little that my dad just holds him and lets him play with his plastic teething rings.

"Don't you wanna play with your brothers, Sarah?" I ask her.

"Momma!" she says and holds onto her mother's leg even tighter.

I go and sit down on the big, leather couch, and Sarah cautiously lets go of her mother to come and sit on this thing she doesn't have a name for.

"What's this thing for?" she asks.

"This is called a couch. We don't have any in our houses because they are very expensive, but now you have money," I attempt to explain this as best I can to a three year old.

"Oh," she says and sits on it bouncing until she realizes she doesn't have to sit when she bounces. She jumps on it like the trampoline from the school yard that got taken out because a bigger kid jumped on it too hard and broke it. I was annoyed when the school trampoline broke because that was the only thing to do during recess, but now things like that sound so stupid compared to everything else that's happened.

"Sarah!" her mother notices her bouncing.

"Mom, it's okay. Let her have some fun, at least today," Jason says and catches his mother's arm before she can come over and tell Sarah to stop jumping.

"All right," she says and stays in the kitchen with Jason and my dad.

"He he te he ha he he!" I turn back to Sarah to watch her jumping happily.

I smile at her, and then I hear the boys yelling from upstairs.

"MOM! JASON! ERIC TOOK MY AIRPLANE!" I hear Henry call down.

"NUH UH! THAT WAS MY AIRPLANE!" Eric yells in his defense.

"WAS NOT!"

"WAS TOO!"

"WAS NOT, LIAR!"

"WAS TO, THIEF!" They yell as they push each other down the stairs to see who can get to the bottom first.

"Now boys, what's the problem?" their mom asks them.

"Henry took my airplane!" Eric yells.

"Eric thinks that my airplane is his!" Henry yells.

"Where did you get an airplane?" their mother asks.

"Upstairs! I saw it first!" Eric yells.

"I saw it first and it's mine," Henry says holding the airplane over his brother's head. Eric is six and Henry is eight. I try hard not to laugh at their "airplane fight."

"I wonder why there was a toy airplane upstairs," Jason says, clearly trying to think.

"Let's find out," his mother says and takes each boy by the hand and takes them upstairs as we all follow.

"Right there!" Henry yells pointing to the floor in front of a big wooden chest.

"I bet it came from inside this," Jason says lifting the lid.

"What's in there?!" the little boys ask as Jason lifts the lid slowly, making it even more fun for the kids. Even little Sarah is leaning in closer as the lid opens up.

"I'm gonna say that this should be your room boys," Jason says backing away from the chest and allowing the excited children to look.

"TOYS!" they all shout loudly. They each pull a toy out and begin playing with it at once.

Eric grabs an airplane that's twice as big as the one he had fought over with Henry. Henry grabs a truck and drives it around the carpet.

With wide eyes, little Sarah carefully lifts a pink and blue baby doll out of the chest. She's never had anything like this before. She always had homemade wooden toys and little paper dolls that got cracked or would rip. She holds it and hugs it and runs off to show her mom.

I hope they're happy for now, because someday in the future there will be another reaping for ages 11-18. I read a poster in the town square a couple days ago, and it said that they changed the rules so that they wouldn't end up choosing little kids for the Deathmatch. Luckily, there weren't any little kids that ended up in the first one.

Who knows? One of them may become a tribute, maybe one of them will enter the arena along with their sibling...or with me.

As the little boys play, my dad comes over to the boys with Eli, and Eli crawls over and finds an orange dinosaur toy. I think it's a T-rex. I learned about it in school when I was younger...Anyway, Eli and my dad hang out with the little boys while Sophie and her mom play with the doll, and I can't find Jason.

I walk to the kitchen and find him sitting on one of the tall bar stools.

"Hey," I say, sitting on the seat next to him.

"Will you and your family come and live here? Now that I see the house, it's way to big for just us." he asks me nervously.

I think for a second, then answer.

"Yes." I say. "Well, I'll have to ask my dad."

He looks over at me and smiles, then walks up the stairs to rejoin his brothers and sister in ransacking the toy chest.

I guess living here would be nice, especially so Eli won't have to grow up in our dump of a home. I smile satisfied with what's come of my life. Then I think back to the things I watched on TV during the games, and I freeze. I think back to all those innocent kids, all the families at home, the Capitol cheering for the games to go on... I walk outside and start crying.

We have dinner and although the food's amazing, along with the shiny orange drink Jason calls orange juice, I go out the door once again after the meal, looking for some way to calm myself.

Every time I see Jason, I think of her. I think of Maysilee. So how am I supposed to live with him in the same house? How am I supposed to live in the same town? I can't, but I don't have a choice.

My dad comes out for a while, and we have a small conversation over a long amount of time, only speaking every few minutes like we used to do before the games when he didn't talk all that much.

He tells me it's all right with him if we move in here, and I thank him, then he goes back inside.

Jason comes out a bit later and asks me what's wrong, but I have way too many answers to that question. Even though he calls to me and follows me, after a while he gives up, I run to the town square, wander into a random store and sit in the corner. Why did I come here? What happened? Why am I so upset? These are questions I already have the answers to, though I wish I didn't.

I cry myself dry, get up, and walk to the front of the store, only to be stopped by the owner.

"What have you been doing in the back of my store, little lady?" He asks with a hint of annoyance.

"I...uh...I was looking at the..." What store is this? I look behind myself and on the shelves I find explosives. "Explosives?" I say, knowing he won't buy it.

"Sure...and I'm here to be a princess in a sugar plum castle in wonderland with my magical monkey butler!" he says sarcastically.

"Fine, I ran in here when I was upset and sat in the corner for a few hours," I tell him.

He looks at me and tries to put something together with me.

"What?" I ask him as he looks me up and down.

"You're her," he says pointing to a poster.

The poster is a picture of me next to Jason, his mother, and my father with the words, "Our Leaders will Destroy the Capitol!" written on the top.

"What's this about?" I ask.

"But we thought... everyone thinks you started all this," he says.

"That's good, because actually, I know nothing about any of it," I tell him, grabbing the poster, wondering about it myself.

"You'd better burn that when you're done with it!" he says seriously, handing me a lighter. "If a guard sees it we're busted,"

"What...?-" I begin.

"Why don't you come take a seat?" he says pointing to a chair next to his counter.

I have to admit, I'm curious, so I sit down and listen.

"When this so called 'Dark Day' thing started going on people thought some sorta war was beginning, which I personally think is a terrible idea, since we, the districts, are unarmed and scared. I have no say in it though..." the store owner begins. "Anyway, the Capitol is better fed, well-equipped with weapons and completely capable of getting rid of the districts whenever they want to," he takes a breath.

This is an awful lot to take in from a complete stranger.

"So, what's all that got to do with me?" I ask, confused.

"You're the one everyone's counting on! While your sister, Maysilee was in the arena, everyone thought she'd be coming out, so we planned for HER to be the leader, but, of course, she let her boyfriend out instead," he wipes his face with a cloth. " Anyway cupcake, you're all we've got."

"All you've got? For what!?" I ask, even more confused.

"The symbol of the war!" he yells at me.

"There's no WAR!" I yell back.

"That's what everyone is SUPPOSED to think!" he yells again.

"Of course, YOU were supposed to KNOW!" he keeps yelling.

"How would I?!" I'm so mad at him that I yell too.

"I thought he was gonna tell you," he says pointing to Jason who has materialized behind me. I guess he has a light tread after all those years of hunting.

"Sophie, I didn't want to...bring you into this," he begins.

"Well, I'll say this once, ONCE! I'm okay with a war against the Capitol! But I want to KNOW when it's happening, not be left in the dark!" I wish he would've just told me!

"Okay, okay, you'll know about everything," he says.

"Should we ask her to come, Freddy?" Jason asks the guy behind the counter.

"You know him?" I ask, standing up.

"Ya...we kinda started the poster stuff up, so people in town could find out, but everyone we give one to has promised to burn it after they show it around a bit. We can't risk the Capitol finding out about the posters," Jason explains.

"I don't know, Jason. She just found out. I'm not sure she really wants to come to..." Freddy begins.

"Come where?" I ask.

"You remember that girl, the one in the arena? Anyway, her name was Nikki. Her family was from district two and didn't want to have anything to do with her since some kinda family fight was going on. Anyway, the "Rebels" or whatever, the ones trying to take on the Capitol found out that Nikki wanted to be on their side before she left for the arena. When she died, they wanted her to get a funeral."

"Why? Why would the Rebels want to... Was she some sort of rebel person?" I ask, confused once again.

"I don't know, she helped sneak food into eleven on the trains, so she was... Some sort of rebel-helper?" Jason says.

"So wait...you want me to come to a funeral for that girl?" I say, unsure.

"If you really want to..." Jason says as we walk out with Freddy following him to a car waiting outside, and we all get in.

"So do our parents know about... any of this?" I ask Jason.

"No, maybe your dad does... I think Hagger told him. My mom has a feeling something's wrong. I haven't told them anything though," he says. "If you don't want to come, you don't have to," he adds sympathetically.

"Yes I do," I tell him. He lets the conversation end and the driver starts the car's motor.

We drive for a while, then the driver turns the motor off and we're getting out of the car.

We arrive at a big building that looks pretty old, but pretty in that rustic kind of way.

There is a huge group of people outside in dark clothes, and I notice a lot of the men have guns sticking out of their belts.

"You do know your rebel friends are all armed, don't you?" I whisper to Jason.

"Ya, they have trust issues..." he replies. "And the Capitol is currently hunting every single one of them. They're all sneaking onto the trains to district thirteen tonight to start up a base of operations there," he finishes.

"Wow," I say.

After being introduced to many rebels and other people, Freddy, the man from the explosives store, tells me about who each person is and how important they are to the cause. He talks so fast there are a lot of things I don't catch.

A large black van pulls up to the building as people are gathering around the mound of dug up earth.

Jason and I hang in the back of the crowd, watching from a distance.

Five men in black sweatshirts and pants exit the vehicle and start shooting randomly into the crowd of rebels. Jason grabs my arm and pulls me behind a table that some men tipped over to hide behind.

"Who are they?" I ask, freaking out.

"Capitol guards." Jason replies, just as terrified as I am.

The guards come around the table we're crouched behind.

A large one with an ugly scar on his face approaches me while another grabs Jason and another man next to him.

He grabs me and wraps a cloth around my head and puts the wet part in my mouth. I immediately fall asleep.

I wake up in a cold, dark cement room. I see a metal ladder on one wall, but there's a gate over the top, which, of course, means I'm stuck here. Then I see a small window thing in the wall with metal bars on it. I look through it and see Jason in a similar cell and whisper to him to try and wake him up.

"Jason! Jason! Jason!" I yell to him in a hushed voice.

He opens his eyes and immediately gets up and looks through the hole from where I'm whispering.

"Where...are we?" he asks, still half asleep.

"How am I supposed to know?" I say looking around.

"Those guys...the cloth...it made me tired and I...," he lies back down. I guess he had more sleeping crap on his because the next thing I know, Jason's snoring.

"Good night, Jason," I whisper and slide down onto my cell floor. My dad and Jason's mom are probably worried. I never even told them I was going to the funeral. I should have. Why'd I listen to Jason anyway? I ask myself, annoyed at my bad judgment.

I sit here wondering why I don't hear anyone above me, even though I know there's someone guarding the metal bars that lay above me, trapping me, encasing me, terrifying me.

I sit a while more and finally Jason awakes.

"SOPHIE! WHERE ARE YOU!? SOPHIE!" he yells.

"Jason! Shhhh!" I whisper to him.

"Sophie what happened?!" he asks me.

"All I know is that some guys took us, trapped us, and we're stuck here until further notice," I tell him.

I realize how crazy and strange our predicament is as soon as the words come out of my mouth.

"This is the weirdest thing I've ever woken up to," he says.

"Yep," I say in frustration.

Jason climbs up the metal ladder on his side and tries to force open the bars, but he's only answered by the guards above us putting a boot on his fingers and making him fall back to the bottom of his cage.

Then, a few hours later, I begin to hear rocks being lifted, and there's a burst of sunlight that comes in from Jason's side. Freddy's looking through the hole in the wall at me.

I hear Jason curse at something, and I become confused as the sunlight temporarily blinds me. Then I peer through the bars only to see Jason holding onto his head, red, shiny blood running through his hair.

Freddy comes down and uses a saw thing to open up the bars.

I squeeze through the opening onto Jason's side of the cell. I see a big crane-seat thing lifting Jason into the air and out of this ditch in the ground that is now filling with water and rocks.

"Let's go," Freddy and I ride up on the crane arm together and land on the ground just in time to see Jason getting helped into a car where a few people are trying to put a bandage on his head.

"Is he okay?" I ask as they're closing the doors.

"Just get in a car please, sweetie. Let us take care of this," a woman says and closes the door.

"Come on, let's go home Sophie," Freddy says getting in another identical car, and I climb in with him.

"He'll be fine," Freddy assures me. Then he begins watching the terrain change as we drive by old buildings, eventually we're entering district 12.

We get home and the first person to see us is Hagger who's over by the goat pens in town and looks at me from across the square and motions for me to keep walking.

I keep walking home with Freddy while Hagger follows a few yards behind us, and I wonder why he doesn't just come and walk with us.

"Hagger, what's going on?" I whisper.

"I'll explain when we get back to Jason's house. He already got dropped off. His mother is watching him," Hagger says and keeps walking.

"He's okay, right?" I ask.

When we get to Jason's house, Hagger says, "the Capitol isn't happy that we escaped, so we're leaving at twelve tonight. Make sure you bring some food and bring him and his family and your family. Then meet me and Freddy in Jason's backyard. We're gonna use my old helicopter," Hagger says.

Helicopter?! Wha...? I don't understand any of this. Where are we going that's safe from the Capitol? Nowhere is safe.

Hagger and Freddy walk down the road to Hagger's house, and they tightly close the door. Then I see the windows close and I watch them put the blinds over them.

I shrug and walk inside Jason's house and find Sarah, Eric, and Henry sitting on the couch while Jason sits up and talks to them. Eric and Henry immediately inform me that my father, Eli, and their mother are upstairs talking as if it's their secret mission that has to be completed no matter what. Then Jason continues with his story-telling, though I stay near the door, feeling unwelcome during their "family story-telling time."

"Soon the big rocks started falling and BANG! One of the stupid rocks fell on my head! Isn't that rude of the rock?! He didn't even ask for permission. He just came right down and hit me!" He tells them the story, and they all burst out laughing while I stand by the door clapping.

"Hey Sophie," he says, standing up.

I go over to him and push him back down on the couch with the kids.

"Your head looks..." I try to find a word that won't scare Sarah. "Not all that great," I say.

"Really? I hadn't noticed," he teases.

He laughs and goes upstairs to lie down.

"So how are you guys?" I ask the little ones.

"Good! There was a big guy!" Sarah says.

"He was black and he looked like spider man, but not red, and he didn't have those web things coming out of his hands to climbs buildings!" Eric tells me.

"Then he talked to Mommy! Except Jason had to sleep! Mommy told us not to tell Jason! So don't tell him!" Henry talks so fast I almost don't understand what he's saying, but I understand enough.

"Uh...Henry? I can hear you," Jason says from his room.

"Uh oh," Henry runs upstairs and Sarah follows him, carrying the same doll she got the day they moved in.

"It's okay Jason, all he wanted was where Freddy, Sophie, and Hagger were. Except when mommy said she didn't know, he yelled real real loud and scared Sarah cause we were upstairs playing dinosaur tickle fight. Then Sarah came downstairs and told mommy she was scared, and mommy told Sarah to please go and play and everything was okay. So don't worry, everything is fine cause that's what mommy said," Eric finally takes a breath and then runs after his siblings.

"What are they talking about?" Jason says, standing up and running upstairs to his mom's room.

I follow behind him, yelling at him to go sit down since Hagger told him to not move around a lot until at least tomorrow since his head is still bleeding.

He pushes open his mom's door, and she's in her bathroom washing the mirrors.

"What did that man want with Freddy, Sophie, Hagger, and I?" he immediately asks her.

"The kids?" She asks, immediately knowing that the kids blabbed.

"Who else?" Jason says with a hint of a smile.

"They just wanted to know if Hagger and Freddy were around, and after they had searched our house, Hagger's, and Freddy's they left and drove their black car away," she explains.

"What did the big guy look like?" I ask her.

"Um...he had a big scar that went from his forehead to his chin, and he had a big black jacket on," she says.

Bingo. That's how they knew where I was.

"That same guy came to the funeral where Jason and I were. I bet Freddy or Hagger left an invitation to it lying by the door or something," I tell Jason.

"Last time I was at Freddy's he DID have his invitation laying by the door," Jason says and puts his hand on his forehead, face palming at Freddy's stupidity.

"So we're leaving tonight, right?" she says quickly.

"Yup. Midnight," Jason answers, and I back out of the room to tell my dad about this.

My dad and Eli moved in while I was captured. My dad shows me their room and the room I would have.

I walk into the room now designated to be where my dad lives with Eli, which is right next to the door to my room. Eli and my Dad moved in the day of the funeral when Jason and I were captured.

"Dad?" I say and he excitedly turns from his window to me.

"Oh, Sophie? You're okay?" he says.

"Ya, I'm fine," I say.

"Sophieee!" Eli yells from his little bed, where I assume he's supposed to be taking a nap.

"Hey Eli!" I walk over to his bed and he gives me a big hug.

I put his cheeks in between my hands, and he looks up at me with wide eyes, watching me.

"Sophie gonna stay here now daddy?" Eli asks, not really understanding where I've been for the past few days.

"I'm staying here, that's right. I promise," I say to Eli, giving him another quick hug.

My dad smiles, then lets his face harden.

"So we're leaving at midnight?" my dad asks.

I didn't think he knew anything about this.

"Who told you?" I ask.

"Fred and Hagger have been coming over the past few weeks talking about it," he explains to me.

"Ah, I'm gonna go get a few things ready," I say and walk to my room.

I go immediately to my top dresser drawer and pull out my older sister's mockingjay pin. I clip it to my shirt and tell myself that this is what Maysilee would've wanted. She wouldn't have been scared. She'd have been the first to sign up for this war, but I'm certain that I'd have been the last.

I sit down on my bed and look out the window, over the barbed wire fence that leads to the woods, and think. I think about so much that my mind starts spinning, and I just sit down and start putting clothes in my backpack, along with a scrapbook Maysilee made for me out of leather and tree bark cut really thin like paper.

I only filled in the first two pages before the Deathmatch came up, and she left and didn't come back. Ever since then I haven't had any happy things to put in it, so I have a pretty much empty book.

The only things in it are the first picture, that's of my dad and mom from a long time ago, and the other one is of my sister and me sitting by our old garden, that since then has become overgrown and not usable.

I sit around awhile and keep putting stuff in my backpack when Sarah comes in my room and sits down on my bed with me.

"Is everything really gonna be okay?" she asks.

"Sarah..." I almost start crying, not wanting to tell myself the answer to that question, much less her. I try not to lie and not to scare her at the same time. "No, not everything," I say.

"I didn't think so," she says.

"When we leave tonight, you've gotta understand that there isn't a very good chance that we'll ever come back," I tell her.

"Am I allowed to bring Peachy?" she asks me.

"What's Peachy?" l ask.

"Her!" she holds up her doll proudly.

"Oh, I remember her from when you guys first moved here," I say.

"Ya, and I want her to come and make me not scared," she tells me.

"That's a good idea," I say, remembering when I was just like her. I believed that fairies flew in the sky, that magic existed, that golden roses grew in gardens.

She smiles, "I'm gonna ask mommy where we're going," she says and walks out.

If only her mother knew.

I finish putting things in my backpack and finish it off by putting the scrapbook in. Then I pull it out and really look at it. It looks...different. Not like a different book, but definitely...changed? I open it and look at the pictures and then flip through the empty pages. I turn to the very last page and find a thick piece of bark taped to the back of the last page. I let it loose and there's something written on it.

_Sophie,_

_I love you and I'm sorry I didn't come back._

_I did it for Jason, not to hurt you._

_You're reading this because I didn't get home._

_I miss you and I know you miss me._

_When the DeathMatch started_

_Jason and I promised each other to watch over_

_the other's family if we didn't make it out._

_I hope he kept his promise._

_I love you Sophie,_

_Maysilee_

I'm in tears by the end of the note. She left this for me to find just like this. She knew I'd be safe; she was always making sure I'd be okay. When she was the one going to her death, she was thinking about how it'd affect me and where I'd end up.

That means that I have to make her proud. I promise you Maysilee, we'll win this war.

I decide to sleep until 11:45 since I don't think there will be much chance of sleep once we're on the helicopter. I climb into bed, and then the next thing I know Jason is shaking me awake.

"Sophie! Come on! The helicopter is ready! We have to go now!" he shouts at me.

"What's the big rush?" I ask as he pulls me and my backpack down the stairs to the backyard.

"They're here! They're gonna try and stop us! We've got less than a minute!" he keeps pushing at me to hurry.

We get to the backyard where my dad and Eli are in the helicopter with Hagger and Freddy in the front seats, manning the controls.

Jason's mom is loading her kids on, and she has Eric and Henry on when I climb in. Gun shots begin to blow off in the house. She boosts Sarah up, who is holding on to her doll. I lift her up, and then Jason and his mother come up after us, and just as the doors are closing and we're taking off, the guards appear from the house roof, and the windows, and from the back door.

They shoot at us and hit a couple windows, and the window glass shatters into us. I try and shield the kids from the flying shards.

Sarah is just hanging onto her doll and mother with both her hands, and she's hiding her face in her mother's shirt, crying.

"Sarah it's okay!" I shout to try and make her feel better, but there are still guns shooting at us.

"They've got one!" Hagger yells to Freddy.

"One what?!" Jason shouts.

"They brought a missile launcher," Freddy says.

We start flying away and the gun fire stops, but then the missile comes right up and follows us. It gains on us every second.

"Hagger, Freddy do something!" I shriek.

"Give us a second, cupcake!" Freddy yells back.

I hate that name.

The missile is right behind us, about to hit us, when...BOOM!

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Hagger yells as he slaps Freddy's hand.

"Ya!" Freddy yells.

"What was that?!" Jason shouts.

"We let the missile hit the back of the chopper and it sensed metal, so it blew up without hitting us and the engine," Hagger says.

"So it did hit us? Did it damage the helicopter?" I ask.

"Ya, but we can get to thirteen before the damage stops us," Hagger says.

"Thirteen? You mean that district that the Capitol just made on the outskirts of the old mines?" I ask.

"Yup! They're starting a nuclear war facility or shelter underground," he starts to explains, "but, of course, they've barely started it yet, so we'll be above ground for a while," he finishes.

"How long will we have to fly to get there?" I ask.

"Oh, maybe like...an hour?" Freddy says.

"Cool," Eric says.

"As long as it's safe," Jason's mother says.

"Hey mommy! Look! My doll DID not let me be scared." Sarah says, obviously believing it herself.

I smile, remembering when a doll could make me "not scared."

"That's great Sarah. You're also very brave," her mother says.

"No, my dolly is the one who's brave," Sarah says.

"Sarah..." her mother begins.

"That's great Sarah!" Jason interrupts, eyeing his mother. He knows that sometimes being completely truthful with someone as young as Sarah only confuses them.

"Ya, it's great," his mother says.

"Set the monitor to point 6D," Hagger says to Freddy.

"Set. Now add a blank pistol to 4E," Freddy replies.

I don't understand anything they're saying, so I just sit back and look out the window and catch a last glimpse of my old home as it disappears behind the trees.

I guess I drifted off, because when I wake up I hear Hagger saying, "Thirteen is a half an hour away. Can you take this part alone?"

Then Freddy replies, "Ya, sleep when you have the chance."

Hagger climbs into the back and opens a door leading to a small room that looks like it's where you're supposed to put luggage if you're traveling in a helicopter. Who travels in a helicopter?

I follow Hagger and find him lying on a sleeping bag in a squished position since he has to have his knees up to his chest to be able to lay down in here.

"What's gonna happen when we get to 13?" I ask.

"Oh, hello to you to," he says and he sits up.

"Answer me, Hagger," I say.

"Look, it's a small group of people that are plotting against the Capitol, okay?" he says.

"I know that, but what do we have to do with it?" I ask.

"You... you're the one that... You're the one who gets put on posters, and you're the one who everyone knows the name of," he says.

"What...?" I say, confused.

"You have to be the one they look up to. You have to impress the adults in charge. You have to be the rebel face. You have to be brave," he says.

"I don't know how to be brave," I say, sitting down.

"Yes, you do. You've been brave ever since Maysilee left for the games," he says.

"Really? So crying in my room for two weeks straight is considered brave?" I say.

"The fact that you came out of the room is considered brave," he says.

I stay silent.

"You're the one they need. Don't you forget it," he says and walks out.

"I am not," I say dismissively.

Maysilee should've been here, not me. I don't even know how to throw a knife. How am I supposed to be a war leader?

I sit there a while and eventually stand up and walk out to join everyone else in looking out the window at 13 as we approach it.


	3. Chapter 3

"Looks more like a campsite than a district," I say.

"They only got here a week ago. This is impressive considering that," Freddy says.

"Ya, I guess," I say, still not impressed by the people who are willing to take on the Capitol.

We land in an open field next to the woods.

"Hello, I am Victoria, the president of district 13. Are you the Donners and Woodlinds?"

"Yes, we are, and that's Freddy and Hagger," I say motioning to the two of them.

"Fantastic, follow me," she says, and we follow her to three tents all lined up next to each other.

She hurries us along as if we're on a very important schedule that we can't be late for.

"This is where you'll stay," she says to my father and Eli and Jason's family, "and will Sophie and Jason please come for a little talk with me and the commanders?" Victoria seems in a rush.

"Um... sure, I guess," I say.

"Ya, why not?" Jason says, following me, obviously not overly fond of Victoria's "go go go!"ing.

We follow Victoria past a few tents to this wooden building with a sign on the front that reads "War Leaders Only." I didn't think I was a "war leader" just yet.

I walk in behind Victoria and feel Jason's presence behind me as we enter a silent room where people are sitting on the ground examining a big map.

"This is Sophie, and this is Jason. They are here to be our little sparks!" she says and walks off to talk to some guy in the back of the room.

"Sparks?" Jason whispers to me as we sit down.

"They want us to be the 'face' of the rebels, not to fight, thank goodness," I tell him.

"I kinda wanted to be helping the cause, not sitting around," he says.

"It's safer to stay out of it as much as possible," I say.

"It's more exciting to be part of it," he says.

"I guess, but I'd prefer to not be part of it and live, than to be part of it and end up dead," I say.

"I just don't want to sit around doing nothing, but I guess you've gotten used to that, haven't you?" he says and storms out.

"He wanted some fresh air," I say to answer the questioning looks thrown my way by the other war leaders.

"I'll just go see if he's coming back," I say and walk out, trying to figure out what I've done _this time._

I walk outside and try to understand what he meant. Does he mean that during the games I stayed out of it and just watched? He doesn't think that, does he? It wasn't my choice what happened, is he...blaming me?

I start crying, and I walk over to our assigned tents and dive into to the one on the right.

"I'm so stupid. He only thinks of me as a dumb kid!" I yell at myself and throw a pillow at the sleeping bag on the floor.

"Hey watch it!" I hear Hagger yell and sit up from underneath the rolled up sleeping bag.

"Sorry, I didn't think anyone was in here," I begin to stand up and walk out.

"Wait, it's fine, so...who thinks you're a stupid kid?" Hagger asks.

"Jason," I say in almost a whisper.

"No, he doesn't, you know he doesn't. Why would you think that?" Hagger says.

"He blames me, for what happened," I say.

"Nobody blames anybody except the Capitol. It's their fault," Hagger says. "

"He says I sat around during the games, not doing anything," I tell him.

"You didn't sit around, don't believe a word he says. What the..- What were you supposed to do?" he says, with a hint of a smile.

"I don't know, but I guess he expected more than what I did," I whisper.

He thinks about this for a second.

He hands me a tissue and I take it gratefully, and after a while of sitting there in the quiet, I stand up.

"Thank you," I say.

"No problem, Cupcake," he says and puts a baseball cap over his eyes and leans back.

I still hate that name. I walk out and walk back to the building with the war leaders.

"Jason um...he needed some rest," I say.

Jason stands up from the many surrounding the map.

"I'm right here," he says.

"You came back," I say.

"I...uh...ya, I came back," he says and sits back down.

I assume Jason came back to apologize to me and excitedly wander to the side of the room near him.

"Now, we all know how important the J sector is, so we should all mark that area on our squad map as a must," begins Victoria.

Since I've got no idea what she's saying, I scoot forward until I'm right next to him, opening my ears for the apology I'm expecting.

"Why'd you come back?" I ask in a hushed tone, not patient enough to wait for him to talk first.

"Not for you. I could be ready for the front lines._ I'm_ actually gonna help. So if you'd excuse me, I'm going to sit over there so I can pay attention," he says and walks to the other side of the room and plops himself down.

What's got him all worked up anyway? What did I do?! The fact that I'm not going to the front lines with the rest of the soldier guys? Excuse me for playing it safe, besides they'd never let a thirteen year old anywhere near a gun.

I walk out because there's really nothing for me to do here and because I don't want to be anywhere near Jason considering how mad he is with ME!

I walk into my family's tent and find my backpack and a few containers of food stacked in the center with some sleeping bags.

I unwrap the sleeping bags and lay them out and put the food in the cooler we brought. Then I pick up my backpack, and when I lift it to put it next to my sleeping bag, my old calendar falls out.

It opens up to the month of March, and my eyes close in on the 15th. I can't believe it.

This is the calendar I had before Maysilee left, and it was a two year calendar. I guess with all the stuff going on I forgot to keep one to keep track of the date. I realize that I'm not 13, I'm 14, and I forgot my own birthday.

"Happy Birthday to me," I say to the empty tent.

I count out the days and eventually figure out that right now it's March 25th. Maysilee went to the arena at about March 30th.

The next Deathmatch for the district is in 5 days.

The televised reaping is in 3 days.

The possibility of the Capitol coming here and destroying us is more likely every second we're here.

I put the calendar in my back pocket and walk back to the wooden house to talk to Victoria.

I wait until people start walking out, and I go in and find Victoria and Jason standing at the map talking.

"Now Jason, you're going to be in sector 5A. It's very important you get the radio tower to send your signal that means you've captured the area," Victoria says to him.

They don't notice me so I walk in, and I'm right next to Victoria when I speak.

"Victoria, could I speak with you?" I ask and make her and Jason jump.

"Certainly, I'll see you tomorrow Jason," she says.

"Ya, I should get over to the training grounds," he says and eyes me on his way out.

"What'd you do to him?" Victoria asks.

"Nothing, everything, I don't know..." I answer.

"That's the way it is with boys," she says and has a small smile on her lips.

"Anyway, I would like to sign up for my training courses," I say.

"The paper your father filled out said you were 13," Victoria says.

"I WAS only 13, now I'm 14," I say.

"It's your birthday? Or you forgot your birthday?" she asks.

My silence answers.

"It happens to the best of us," she says.

She hands me a big case that's marked "BB-A".

"A Bee Bee gun? Really?" I ask.

"For training, everyone uses a Bee Bee gun," she replies.

"Even... Jason?" I ask.

"Yes, even him, though he was quite upset that he wouldn't get to use a bow like our class of sharpshooters," she replies.

"A bow? For like... fighting? What good would a bow be?" I asked.

"Well, you saw in the DeathMatch how Maysilee used hers, didn't you?" It felt as if I was being questioned.

"Ya, I did, but..." I begin.

"Then you know what we plan to use them for," she says.

"Jason's been hunting with a bow since he could walk. Why didn't you let him start with it?" I asked, wondering.

"He... hasn't touched one since...We didn't want anything to distract him at a time like this," she said and went over to a large crate and opened it up.

It was filled with black and green clothes that looked thick and big and...bulky...

"Would you like to try some of these on to find a size that fits you?" she asked me, holding up a jacket to me.

"Sure, are these for practice or for the real thing?" I asked.

"These are for training," she answered.

"Oh," I said.

"Don't worry, if you get hit by a Bee Bee bullet with the armors, it barely hurts, just a bit, unless you have delicate skin, give me your arm," she instructed.

I handed her my arm and she felt it. It tickled, and I did everything I could not to pull away and giggle.

"Hm... you're going to need leg guards and arm guards," she told me and handed me some leg pads and arm pads from the crate.

"Thanks," I said looking at them, thinking how much I must just seem like a dumb kid to her.

"I think you're all set," she said.

"Yep, thanks, I'll be here for training tomorrow," I answered and walked out.

I went over to my tent and put everything away and organized it. I hate having a messy area, even if it's a tent.

I walk outside and find Jason and Freddy sitting around the fire pit talking.

I wander over, and I'm only a few feet away from Jason when I say, "Hey Freddy."

"Hey yourself," he says lying on a sleeping bag. He looks like he's attempting to tan himself.

"Trying to tan?" I ask and sit down.

"Uh...no, I am...looking at the sun...or trying to...look at it...?" he says.

"Have fun with that," I say and turn to Jason.

"Can I talk to you?" I ask.

He coldly looks up from his map, right into my eyes, then walks away into the field.

"What'd you do to him?" Freddy asks, just like Victoria.

"Nothing!" I say and walk off, away from Jason.

I begin to run into a field on the other side of the camp and keep running until I reach the woods. I'm so mad that I run right in and don't stop. I eventually get forced to a halt when I encounter a large drop that goes down to a river.

I walk down the side of the ledge to the river. I take a long, deep gulp of water and sit there for a bit. Then I get back up to the top and sit down.

I hear a rustling sound. I turn and see a big, brown bear looking right at me. He's only a few feet away from my face, and he looks as mad as I was before I saw him. Now I'm a statue. I'm frozen, if I move, I may anger it. My only hope is for the bear to get bored and move on.

I sit completely still for what feels like forever waiting for the bear to move along, but it doesn't.

I decide to attempt an escape. If the bear is confused about what I am, it might leave me alone until it figures it out. In that time, I can get away.

I slowly stand up and to my surprise, the bear comes toward me.

I back up, a bit farther, farther, farth... I get to the edge of the slope above the river. If I fall, I don't think from this position I could get back up. Then, of course, there's the bear above me to think about...

It keeps coming toward me. I have no option. I turn around, bend my legs and leap like a frog, trying to reach the other side, to get a grip on a root or something, no such luck. I fall down into the river and start getting dragged away by the current. I keep my head mostly above water, and eventually get to the edge of the river and pull myself up and sit by the river coughing out water and mud. There is no way to get back up there, no way to swim back, especially with this current.

The only way I could ever get out would be to get a rope and throw it up to the tip of the cliff and hope it snags on something, I have no rope though, so I sit and wait.

Someone will come looking for me, right?

At least there's one good thing about getting pulled so far by the current, the bear doesn't know where I went. He's probably gone.

I clean my hands and feet off and try to stay mostly out of the mud, but it's everywhere down here, so there's not much chance of really being all that clean.

I sit for another few hours. Then it becomes dark. When it's about midnight, I finally give up and tell myself someone will come searching for me tomorrow. As I fall asleep on the muddy bank, I realize I could be miles from camp. It'll take a while to get any help. Even if I could get further downstream, from here I see no way to get back up to the top of the ledge for miles. If I tried to go back I'd be fighting against the current, and that seems impossible at the moment. I'm trapped.

As I close my eyes, I feel my stomach grumble.

"Shut up stomach, I don't have food!" I yell at it.

That seems to do the trick, and I fall asleep.

I wake up to a symphony of birds. It's very pretty, but I have a feeling I'd enjoy it more if I didn't feel so bad.


	4. Chapter 4

I'm hungry, I'm freezing, I'm muddy, I'm trapped, but someone will come get me today. I bet they've been looking all night...

I decide that if they're looking, the least I can do is help them.

"I'M HERE! IT'S SOPHIE! I'M HERE! JASON! DAD! FREDDY! HAGGER! I'M HERE! I'M HERE! I'M OKAY! I'M HERE!" I scream for almost an hour, and I'm finally forced to stop when my voice gives out.

I sound like a dying toad.

"No one is... coming," I say in my dying toad voice.

"SOPHIE! WE'RE COMING!" That was definitely Hagger.

"Hagg-!" my voice is gone. I knew I shouldn't have screamed when I wasn't getting any reply.

"Haggerrrr..." I say, but it's no use, I can barely even hear myself.

I can hear all their footsteps. They're getting closer.

"Where'd she go? I heard her RIGHT HERE!" he yells, literally two feet away from the ledge.

I throw a rock up, but all it does is bounce off the ledge and come right back down and hit me on the head.

"Watch out Hagger," that was Freddy.

"What?" says Hagger, kicking dirt down on me with his movements.

"There's a ledge behind you. Do you think she went that way? Down the river? She couldn't have crossed the river," he says.

She could have FALLEN you idiot! I wish I could yell!

"Ha-, Fred-," It's no use. I'm like a needle in a haystack without my voice.

"SOPHIE!? Sophie! I heard her!" yells my dad.

"Where'd it come from?" asked Hagger, moving around, covering me in dirt.

"It sounded like..." He comes so close to the edge I see the tip of his boot.

"Dad, I'm dow-" I hate losing my voice. It makes me feel so vulnerable.

"I definitely heard her, right here!" he says.

"We believe you. Maybe you should take a few minutes to rest or something, then keep looking," says Freddy. They move away from the ledge, covering the dirt on me with more dirt.

"Dad I-" I try and scream! I HATE THIS!

"SHE'S RIGHT HERE! I PROMISE!" he yells at Freddy, coming back to the ledge, covering me with dirt, AGAIN!

Finally, he comes to his senses and looks down.

"Sophie!" he yells grabbing a rope from Hagger.

I wave and point to my throat and do my best impression of a dying toad.

"Ah," he says.

I nod. He knows I lose my voice if I yell.

"Huh? Did we miss something?" asks Freddy, setting up a rope on a tree and tossing it down to me.

"Sophie lost her voice, am I right?" he asks as he lifts me to the top of the ledge.

"Y-" I begin, then nod instead.

"Don't talk until tomorrow. Don't try to either," he says, reminding me of the first time I lost my voice and how he lectured me about how if I tried to talk before the next 24 hours I could damage my throat, which isn't true. It just hurts and makes my throat scratchy, but I always do it anyway since he takes it so seriously.

We sit around eating apple slices for about an hour since they were all out all night. I don't know anyone who came except for Hagger, Freddy, and, of course, my dad. Then there's about...I count heads and hats, six, no seven, other men that came.

I'm kind of annoyed that I don't know their names, and they were out all night looking for me. I mean, I can't just walk up to them and say, "Hey stranger! I don't know who you are, and I never bothered to notice you! But hey, thanks for saving my life!"

One of the men finishes his apple slices and walks over to the ledge.

"Don't go ov-" I can't talk. I hate this.

"Sophie! Shh!" My dad scolds me.

I look at him apologetically and he nods at me.

The man who went to the side of the ledge takes off his cap and reveals hair just like... Ug! Why does he have to have that dark brown hair? It reminds me of why I ended up out here. Jason.

The man turns around and faces Hagger. It IS Jason!

"Here, I found the second piece for that uh... launcher you wanted," Jason hands a piece of metal to Hagger, and he takes it, examining it.

"Thanks, this'll fix the chopper up easy," he says, placing it carefully in his pocket.

Jason turns my way.

He looks me in the eye for half a second as he turns away. I look deep into the expression on his face and find nothing except anger, and a hint of... I don't know... confusion?

I sit back down, next to my dad. He pops his last apple slice into his mouth and gets up.

"All right! Time to get back, Victoria will want to know we found her!" My dad tells the men. They begin packing up their little metal seats and putting the extra apple slices away in their backpacks.

We start off in the direction I ran here. Hagger catches up to me.

"So, are you and Jason speaking or..." He trails off.

I shake my head.

"He'll come around," He pats me on the back. I quicken my pace and walk forward, past the men in front of me. I take over the front of the line. I keep going until I'm just opening up into the meadow that leads to our camp.

I notice that I'm far ahead of everyone else. I can barely hear their quiet words.

"Sophie! Come back a bit. Where are you going in such a hurry!?" I hear Hagger call.

I don't answer, I can't.

I see I'm right underneath a large oak tree. It has a lot of branches; I begin climbing up. I'm not great with trees, or climbing, and occasionally I make a branch crack underneath my feet. I always assume that I'll fall, but I never do. I don't look down, only up. I eventually realize that I'm at the top of the tree, the top swaying back and forth in the breeze. I finally look down and almost shriek with fear. I'm like... 100 feet up!

"Sophie! Come back down here!" yells my dad. "What the heck is she doing?" he asks Hagger and Freddy.

I sit in a fork of branches, ignoring the words coming from below me. For the first time in months, I feel safe. I feel in control. I'd know if someone was going to sneak up behind me. I'd know if someone was coming at least fifteen minutes before they reached me.

I hear bickering below me. Everyone is yelling over everyone else's voices, trying to find someone among the group who can climb trees.

I finally hear my father speak up over everyone.

"Jason can! Will you please go get her down, Jason?" he pleads.

"Fine," Jason says in an angry tone.

I look down, he's scaling the tree. He'll have to stop when the branches get thin I tell myself. And he does.

"Sophie, come on, come down," he begs, in an angry voice.

I stare into the field beyond the tree I am perched in and ignore him. He's only speaking to me to make his life easier, so he can go back to camp and continue ignoring me.

I decide to show him just how angry I am with him by frightening him.

I walk dangerously close to the end of the thinnest branch on the tree, less than an inch away from stepping off.

"Sophie! Stop! What are you doing?!" He screams in an even angrier voice.

Even though my dad will kill me later, I speak anyway.

"Why are you ignoring me!" I yell at him. My throat is on fire.

He remains silent for a while.

"I...I don't...I don't know, okay?!" He yells back.

I take one step forward, half my foot dangling in mid air. I'm terrified of how high I am, but I push my fear away.

"Sophie! Okay, I know! I know!" Jason yells at me.

"Tell me," I say quietly.

"Because when I look at you... I see... I see your sister, all right? I see Maysilee, and it makes me remember everything, everything," his voice isn't angry anymore. I look down at him and see a tear rolling down his face, "I thought ignoring you would help, but it doesn't, and I'm sorry, now come on, come down and stop scaring your dad half to death," he says.

I take a step back, and I'm about to grab onto the trunk to start descending, but I lose my footing and my foot slips off, and there I am, falling.

I hit a few branches, and eventually I grab onto one enough that I land on the one below it. I watch the leaves above me wave in the wind for what seems like a lifetime. Then all the sudden I open my eyes, and I'm lying on a sleeping bag in a tent.

I sit up, and my throat still feels sore, and for a moment my vision is blurry and I feel confused. Then I focus on a face looking down on me.

"Sophie? Can you hear me?" It's Hagger.

"Ya, I can also smell your breath," I say waving a hand in front of my nose teasingly.

"She's fine," Hagger says rolling his eyes as he leaves the tent and lets my dad fuss over me.

"Does your leg feel sore? Can you move your arm? Does this hurt? How's your throat? Maybe I should get the medics. Would you like some water? Are you thirsty? Do you need food?" He talks in circles.

"Uhh... ya...Umm...I'm fine," I say, laughing on the inside. If I were a boy, I wonder if he'd still be this protective?

"Oh, okay, just take a little rest and hmm, I'll go tell Victoria you're okay," he walks out of the tent. I think I hurt his feelings. He always loves to fuss over me and Eli, making sure we have everything we need, asking if we want to have this or that. He acts just like mom used to... I wish she could see this place. She loved camping in tents. Dad's so much better now. For years I thought of Maysilee as the only one that could take care of me, but now it's like...my dad finally got a wake-up call.

I decide to rest for just a while to satisfy my dad, and I end up waking up in the middle of the night.

Maybe I should've listened to my dad. I hadn't slept for the past 24 hours, and I guess I was tired.

I sit up and find my scrapbook out, sitting on top of my bag, opened to a page with a picture of Jason and Maysilee, sitting on a log in the woods, laughing. She was so pretty...

I shake my head so I don't start crying and shut the book.

Then I hear hushed voices out by the fire pit.

"Well, why shouldn't we just take them now? Her dad would never know. Neither would that old mess. Who was he? Uhh... Hagg...Hagger! Hagger'd never come after us. He'd never know where they were," says a voice I don't have a name for.

I press my ear against the tent flap, and accidently lean forward a bit too much and ruffle my sleeping bag.

"Did you hear that?" says the same voice. He's moving toward my tent.

I silently slip back into my sleeping bag. When he opens the tent flap, I do fake breathing and act like I'm having a nightmare by moving my feet occasionally. He closes the tent flap and goes back to the fire.

"Just her, she's still asleep," he says, and then I hear him sit down on a log next to the fire. I stand back up to listen at the flap of the tent.

"What if she's not any better by tomorrow? What if we have to carry her out of the tent in the middle of the night? Someone might hear us," says Freddy. SAYS FREDDY?!

I nearly fall over, but manage to keep myself from falling out of the tent.

"She's awake!" Freddy whispers.

"Would you focus?! She's asleep, I just saw her! She's just moving around!" says the mysterious voice, "If we get her and him, and get out here before sunrise, we're home free, and we're rich!"

"Ya, ya, I know, the president is gonna pay plenty for them, but what do I do afterwards? I can't go back home! They'd know I was part of it!" Freddy says to the mysterious voice.

"Go back and say... you escaped, that they took you, Jason, and Sophie, and you got away," replies the mysterious voice.

"All right, I'm in, but I get 60%," Freddy says and walks off.

I hear footsteps, and the mysterious man slowly walks off into the campsite. I slowly crawl back into my sleeping bag. Freddy, traitor, me, Capitol, president, Jason, money, scary man, kidnap, me, me, me. I run these words through my head all night. None of them make sense, not together anyway.

The sun will rise in a few hours, but I have to talk to Jason now. I immediately make a b-line for Jason's tent. I sprint to it. I reach it, I enter, and I slam the tent flap closed behind me. Jason is still asleep, wearing nothing but his pants. Thank goodness he had pants on.

I shake him awake, and he eventually wakes up.

"Ahhh!" He yells as he wakes up to me shaking him.

"Shh!" I whisper back, "I gotta tell you something,"

I tell him everything, and when I'm finished all he does is sit there, digesting what I've told him.

"I know, I never thought Freddy would betray us, but...Jason, we've gotta leave, tomorrow," I say.

"How? I have my family, you have yours. We'd never get out of here without anyone noticing. How would we? Where would we go? How would we defend ourselves? Who could we trust? Is Hagger..." he takes a gulp, "in on it?"

"Not that I know, and I don't know. I hadn't thought that far ahead," I say sitting down in frustration.

"Maybe we could tell 13, get everyone in on it. Then when Freddy and that guy come to get us, they'll be outnumbered," Jason suggests.

"That could work, but if what they were saying was the truth, they gave me the idea that they wouldn't be alone. They're planning on taking us to the Capitol to sell to the president or something. Anyway, they'll have some Capitol guards here, wouldn't they?" I ask.

"I don't know, probably. I mean, if we're that important. Important enough for Freddy to lie to us, to trick us, to lead us to our death." Jason looks like an angry cartoon character. All that's missing is the smoke coming out of his ears.

"We should probably sleep in shifts, just in case they decide to come... early. Should we tell anyone?" I say, trying to keep his mind on something other than how much he despises Freddy.

"I'll go first, and no, that's what got us into this mess, including our families," Jason says scooting a box over by the tent flap to sit on.

I lay down, but I don't sleep. An hour later Jason nudges me, but he didn't need to, I never slept.

I get up, sit down, and think. All I can think about is two words. Freddy, liar, Freddy, liar, Freddy, liar, Freddy, liar.

I fall off the box and realize I drifted off to sleep for a second.

"What happened?" Jason asks, yawning.

"I uh, nothing, just...staying alert," I say, sitting on the box as if I'd been here for the entire time.

Jason falls back to sleep, he starts snoring, great.

We sleep on and off all night, but by morning, I'm still worried about Freddy and his mystery employer.

Jason and I get up and come out of the tent to get breakfast. My dad's already sitting by the fire, putting his wet shirt on a bush to dry it off in the sun.

Jason and I sit down next to the fire. The smoke smells nice in the morning air.

We talk in hushed voices about our plan.

At exactly 2PM, we'll sneak into the big field with the airplanes and helicopters. We're gonna get Hagger to come and pilot a helicopter away from here, and Victoria will be in charge of bringing our families to meet us at the rendezvous point, a big field right outside of the Capitol, since that's the nearest point to meet.

We sit in silence for a while, and eventually Freddy and Hagger are awake, talking about something.

They walk over to the fire and sit down. I immediately walk away in disgust, that liar, that traitor. Jason follows me and we sit by a broken tree log near the woods.

Hagger comes a bit later, and he already knows something's going on.

"All right, spill the beans, I'm listenin'," he says.

I don't know where to begin, Jason tells him everything. I occasionally nod.

"So, basically, Freddy's a stinking traitor. You need me to fly a helicopter to escape from him and the Capitol troops and guards who are coming to kidnap you, and I haven't had breakfast yet!?" Hagger asks.

"Glad you understand, so you'll help us?" Jason asks.

"Sure, what have I got to lose?" Hagger says.

I wish I could say, "Everything!", but since he's risking his life to help us, I decide to keep that comment to myself.

At 1:30PM, I'm packing a small backpack and putting it on my shoulders, kissing Eli goodbye, and saying goodbye to my dad in my head. If he knew I was leaving, and why, he'd kill Freddy, and stop me from leaving. Jason and I say we have training and walk to the airfield.

I spot Hagger sneaking into a high tech helicopter that looks brand new.

"Nice choice," Jason says, scaring Hagger half to death.

"Don't scare me like that boy!" Hagger tells him in a hushed voice.

"All right, get in you two," he says, getting on his head set.

I get in, and just as we're closing the doors and taking off, I see a big, black, jet thing cover the sky over district 13.

It starts dropping little bags of something, Hagger starts pulling masks out from the front of the helicopter and yelling for us to put them on.

"What are those?!" I ask in bewilderment.

"Sleep syrup times one million. Everyone that breathes it in'll be asleep till tomorrow night. It doesn't hurt you though," he says, taking off.

I realize that means Victoria, dad, Eli, Jason's family.

We knew this would put us at risk, but a whole district of people?

Jason has a look of shock on his face.

Then all the sudden, we're hit by a blast from the jet. They know we're trying to escape.

We're hit by another blast, but this one is like an electric buzz that goes through the entire helicopter. Then we start going down. All the sudden, we're hit by a kind of pole that sinks itself into the helicopter's wall and has a rope that holds us in space. It begins to reel us in, into the jet. Into our doom.

"I'm sorry we got you into this Hagger," I say as we meet the jet, and we enter it.

"My years we're numbered anyway, thanks for making them exciting" he says sarcastically, closing his eyes. No doubt thinking they'll reel us into some sort of deadly trap.

Jason takes my hand. We hold onto each other's sweaty hands until our damaged doors are busted opened by men in black suits. Then we're both grabbed from opposite sides of the helicopter, our hands ripped apart.

We're in a large room that, I'm guessing, is the middle of the jet.

I see Freddy talking with some guy, probably the one from last night, on the other side of the room. Then they approach us.

Hagger is held at gunpoint, just like Jason and I, and our hands are tied behind our backs.

Freddy sits down in a chair. We're in a circle around him.

The first thing Jason does is get a mouthful of spit, and he gets Freddy right in the eye.

"That was uncalled for," Freddy says, signaling to the man holding Jason.

The man forces him to his knees.

Freddy comes close to him, "Don't blame me for this. Whatever pays is what I do. I wasn't getting paid to play nice with you, so why bother?" He says, then returns to his chair.

"And Hagger, how foolish you must feel to have trusted me!" Freddy yells.

"You disappointed me Freddy," is all Hagger says in reply.

"What about you? Sophie? Did I disappoint you?" he asks me.

I don't look at him. I stare at the floor, staying silent.

"Did I or did I not disappoint you?!" he demands an answer.

I stand my ground.

He motions to the guard holding my hands letting out a deadly smile across his lips.

The man shoves me to the ground. I land on my face.

I expect my face is going to be red for a bit, but as I was before, I stay silent.

"Sophie!" Jason yells struggling against his restraints.

The man grabs me again and forces me to my knees, like Jason.

I look him in the eye and give him a calm look.

He nods, then glares at Freddy.

"Take her to cell..." Freddy thinks for a while, "D, cell D," he decides.

The man holding my arms tugs me toward a hallway, and just as the door closes, I hear what cell Jason is staying in.

"Take the boy to cell B," Freddy instructs, Jason is pulled toward the hallway I'm being taken down.

"What about this one?" The one holding Hagger asks.

"Oh, him? He's gonna stay in A," Freddy says.

But Hagger doesn't come down the hallway Jason and I are in.

Jason and I are pulled for awhile. Then finally I am shoved into a cell marked "D."

Jason is two doors down from me, in B.

"Jason? Jason?" I whisper from the bars that connect me to cell C, then continue to cell B.

"Are you okay Sophie?" he answers.

"Ya, it's just sore," I say rubbing my cheek where I hit the floor.

"What do we do?" I ask.

"I don't know, where's Hagger?" he asks.

"I'm not sure, they took him down the other hallway," I reply.

"For now, I guess we're stuck," he says, sitting down on his cell floor.

We hang around for about two days, maybe three. There's no window, so I can't see the sun set and rise.

About three times a day there's been a small bag with a few crackers and a slice of cheese slid underneath my door, and I can't decide whether it's someone making sure their prize doesn't starve, or whether it's someone slipping me food.

On the second day, a man went into cell C and blocked it off, so I can no longer hear or see Jason, and he can't hear or see me. I don't even know if Hagger and Jason are still on the same jet as me.

No one has opened the door to my cell. No one has made a sound. I've just sat in the quiet, watching water drip from a crack in the ceiling, and make a small puddle in the center of the floor. This makes it very hard to sleep without getting wet.

I've given up the attempt to shake the bars on the metal door trapping me in this cell. They won't budge.

I sit around for a few hours, then finally decide it's close enough to night time to go to sleep. I lie down in my damp cell and close my eyes.

It feels like it's only been seconds when I'm being lifted up and having my hands tied behind my back. The same man that lugged me into my cell is now tugging me out of it. We go through a few hallways, then a door opens on the side of the jet, and we exit into sunlight. It takes my eyes a moment to adjust after being in a dark cell for so long.

I realize we landed on a large field. I can see buildings in the distance. I spot Freddy talking to a tall man in a gray suit beside a truck.

I glare at him and he looks me in the eye for half a second, then goes back to his conversation.

I haven't seen Jason, and I'm starting to wonder if he was taken off the jet somewhere else.

I'm tied to a large metal pole near the truck. It seems to be some sort of flag pole, but it's much too large to climb and un-tie myself. The man in the gray suit comes over to me with Freddy trailing behind him.

"Ah, she's great, young enough, small enough, innocent enough. Freddy you didn't let me down," he says, handing Freddy a pouch I assume is filled with money.

Freddy walks off, but I see him look back for a moment. I hope he's wondering if what he's done was the right thing to do.

I decide to let him know it wasn't, "Hey Freddy!" I yell at him. He turns around, "If this is how you treat your friends, I'd hate to be you're enem-"

The man that tugged me out here wraps a cloth around my mouth, so I can't talk.

Almost as bad as losing my voice, but worse, it makes me even more mad, makes me feel like if I needed to say something, I couldn't say it and get in trouble later. Now I just plain can't talk at all.

"Hm, upset are we?" The man in the gray suit asks me.

"Mmmhmmmmgumumhumhumf" I reply.

"Ha ha! Very funny...Sophie, wasn't it?" he asks.

I stay silent, not willing to be laughed at again for my inability to talk back.

"Ah, the quiet type," he says, "don't worry Sophie, by the time you're done here, you'll talk to me whenever I need an answer." He gives me a half wink, then walks off.

"I don't even know you!" I wish I could scream.

Where's Jason? Where am I? Who are these people? What have they done to Hagger? Why did Freddy chose to do this?

These are the questions that consume me on our ride to a large city. I see construction going on everywhere. Everything looks brand new.

Maybe this is the elusive Capitol they've begun to build in the past two years.

The man who has been my "guard" for the past few days once again drags me into a cell. This time it is in a building. At least this cell is larger than the last one. He takes off the cloth on my head, and unties the ropes around my hands. Then he walks out of the cell, locking the door tightly behind him.

I sit around for a few hours. Then I hear some screaming and the cell door next to mine opens. Through the small window of bars on the cell wall, I can see the cell next door to mine.

"Hey, who are you?" I whisper to the person pounding on his door to be let out. He looks about my age, maybe 14 at the most.

"I'm," he looks over at me and appears shocked, "You're Sophie," he says.

"How do you know?" I ask suspiciously.

"Who doesn't?" he asks me.

I look at him, confused.

"You're the girl they've been showing on TV, the supposed 'Rebel Leader', but I can see that's not working out for you," he tells me.

"Oh, right, that, ya, not really," I say, having forgotten.

"Who are you?" I ask him.

"Oh me? I'm Peter, but you can call me Pete," he says.

"Well, nice to have some company, Pete," I say, sitting back down on the cold cement floor, "Why did they bring you here?" I say, wanting to know.

"I don't know exactly. My older brother was in the Deathmatch last year, Brandon," he says, a tear rolls down his face.

"I'm sorry about your brother, my sister..." I remember Brandon, the one that...Maysilee killed. "They were only playing along. I'm sure she didn't want to..." I can't think of any way to give him a good reason for his brother's death, no, not death, murder.

We stay silent, and for the first time, I realize that my sister wasn't just an innocent player of the games. She was also a murderer.

"He promised that he'd come home, that he'd win. If Maysilee hadn't gotten that bow, then..." he pauses, "he would've come home." Pete finishes and sits down on his cell floor.

We stay silent for a long time, maybe hours, but of course, we can't see the sun, so we have no idea what time it is.

Eventually, as if there wasn't enough to handle with just myself and Peter here, we hear more guards, bringing another person to another cell, this time on the other side of me.

But this time, there's no resistance. It sounds like they're dragging someone.

"Oh, just leave him in there. He'll wake up eventually," one of the guards says to the other, and they leave the prisoner lying on his side. I can't see his face, but I have a bad feeling about who it is.

"Hello? Are you okay?" Peter and I whisper to the unresponsive prisoner.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Peter asks me.

"I'm pretty sure it's a boy, and I don't know, but it might be Ja-" whoever it was wakes up.

"Are you okay?" I say through the barred window.

"Sophie?" It was Jason.

"What happened? I thought we were on the same jet. Where've you been?" I say.

He stands up, "I don't know. All I remember is that they opened the door to my cell on the jet, then some guy in a gray suit came in and whispered something to a guard. Then he punched me so hard I saw stars. Then I was here."

I can't imagine why they wouldn't have brought him here with me and Peter immediately.

"Who is it?" Peter whispers to me from his window. I let Jason see through my cell and Peter and him nod to each other, "Hi, I'm Peter, who are you?" He asks Jason.

"Jason, I'm Sophie's..." he pauses, as if not sure what to say, "friend," he decides, "So, where are we, Peter?"

"No Idea. You met my brother Brandon in the Deathmatch," he says, almost accusingly.

"Oh, that's..." he sits down on the cement floor, deciding not to bring up anything more about Brandon, "So, where are we?" he asks instead.

"I have my suspicions that it's the Capitol, but... I don't think they'd bring us there," I say.

"I don't know, they're pretty stupid, if you know what I mean," Jason says, revealing a hidden knife from his sock. "When the guard opens that door, he's getting more than he bargained for."

I make a mental note to look away when the guard opens Jason's cell door.

We sit around for a few hours. Then a guard comes and opens Jason's cell door slowly. Jason is sitting on the floor.

"All right, get up," The guard says, getting the handcuffs from his belt.

While the guard's getting the handcuffs, Jason pins him to the ground, takes out his knife, and I cover my eyes and ears, then crouch down on the ground and pull my knees up to my head, wrapping my arms around them.

I remain like this until I feel someone's hand touching my shoulder, trying to get me to stand. I expect it's a guard, so I scoot away and elbow him in the leg.

I hear a faint sound of the guard falling to his butt. I brace myself for whatever punishment he's going to give me for elbowing him.

"Sophie, Sophie, Sophie," It's Peter's voice. He reaches his arm out and pulls my arms away from my knees, forcing me to open up from my shell.

"You okay?" he asks.

"How'd the door...open?" I ask, still not moving away from the back wall.

"Jason got the key from...the guard," he says, motioning to Jason who is sitting on the ground rubbing his knee.

"That was...you guys, not a guard?" I say.

"I'm sorry Sophie, I didn't mean to scare you," Jason says.

"Sorry I made you fall. Is your knee okay?" I ask.

That makes him laugh a bit. "It's fine," he says, standing, "let's get out of here before they figure out we're free." Peter and I follow Jason down the hallway. Then we see sunlight through a door with a window. We also see the shoulder of a guard, blocking our escape.

I hear Jason whisper a cuss word under his breath.

"We could wait until he goes away," Peter suggests.

"Or we could...," Jason opens the door suddenly, and it hits the guard right in the head. He falls over. I guess he'll have a headache when he wakes up.

We go out the door. After scooting across the wall on the outside of the...building? Prison? House? It could be anything, really, we find a small car with an open roof. A word comes to my mind and struggles into reality, _jeep. _I've seen a couple of those when guards were driving around in town, back in district 12.

I miss home, and I hope desperately that after the war, I can return there. But then again, it was fun when Maysilee was there. It was fun when Jason fed us and let us stay with him, but was it ever fun because it was home? No, the only thing that made it "home" was the people, not the place. If I live through the war, I want to go somewhere where I can forget, somewhere I can be alone. That way I don't have to look out for anyone except myself, I don't have to protect anyone. No one has to be hurt because of me.

I push these thoughts out of my mind and sit down in the back of the jeep as Jason begins to do something he calls _hot wiring_ to the car. It starts after a while, and the three of us begin driving along a path next to a train track.

"So, you think they'll catch us?" Peter asks Jason.

"I'm not sure. No one was out when we left. Sure they'll know we escaped. They might even know we used the jeep, but do they know which way we went?" Jason asks.

"Good point," Peter thinks about this.

"How much of a lead do you think we have if they realize we left and start to follow the track both ways?" I ask.

"About..." he thinks for a moment, "maybe like... about fifteen minutes tops," he finally decides.

We drive all day, and finally we run out of gas.

"Awww...Crap!" Jason yells, punching the steering wheel with his fist.

"We can ditch the jeep in the bushes and start walking into the woods. They won't expect us to the leave the tracks," Peter suggests.

"Maybe, but we won't be alone in the woods, certain... animals are in the woods hunting for a meal as we speak," Jason replies.

"Better than getting hunted by...Freddy?" Peter remembers Freddy's name.

"Ya, Freddy," I say, almost in a growl.

We push the jeep into a large pond and it begins to sink. Then only the top is visible. We begin throwing pine needles and mud on top of it to camouflage it. I grab a big bunch of sticks, mud, and leaves, and I really wanna dump it right in the middle of the jeep to make it look like the bottom of the pond, so I step into the water a bit, then a little further, then one more...


	5. Chapter 5

"Jas-!" I drop into a deep part of the pond, almost 10 feet down, touch the bottom, dig my feet into it, and try to push off to get back up, but my feet are stuck to the bottom of the pond.

I can't hold my breath for a very long time, so I start grabbing my legs and tugging on them to lift my feet, but they're stuck.

My feet sink even further, and then the muddy water yuck is up to my knees, then my thighs, then...just as it reaches my waist, I see a giant splash on the surface. Jason appears with a vine in his hand. He puts the vine in my hands and I grab it. I feel someone pulling on it, Peter, and I almost lose my grip, but then I realize I've been underwater too long... I have the feeling of breathing water in through my nose.

_I have the sensation of having muddy water on my feet and think to myself...How'd muddy water get on my feet? We were driving...then the jeep...the pond...I fell in..._

I wake up leaning against a broken tree trunk, a fire in front of me... It takes my eyes a second to adjust to the bright orange and yellow fire, but I make it out, along with a familiar face looking down at me.

"Sophie? Are you okay?" It's Peter.

"I..." I begin coughing and then I lose what little food I had in my stomach from when we were being given crackers in the cells.

"Here," Peter hands me a bit of moss, and I'm such a disaster I can't even argue against using it. I begin to clean myself up.

I wipe off my mouth, my running nose, and then Peter hands me a leaf that's tied in a cone shape, tight enough to hold water, I drink thirstily.

"Where'd you get clean water?" I ask.

"There's a fresh water stream a little ways that way," he says pointing into the woods.

"Where's Ja-?"

I'm answered by Jason walking back to our little campfire carrying a squirrel by the tail.

"Dinner is being prepared," he says, cleaning the squirrel and putting it over the fire to cook.

"Mmm," I say, smelling the cooking meat, "Wait, what about the smoke?"

"Oh, I think our friends have...," he gives a faint smile, "other things to do."

Peter laughs.

"What did you do?" I ask.

"When you were out, our friends came to find us," Jason says.

"And?" I wonder how Jason and Peter scared them off when the others were surely armed.

"Well, let's just say...their jeep ended up...very dirty," Jason says.

"They drove into the pond!?" I ask in astonishment.

"Mhm," Peter says.

"There'll be more jeeps coming to find the missing one though," I say, reaching for a leaf filled with water to dump on the fire.

"Sophie, don't!" Jason grabs the leaf and pours it on to the grass.

"But, they'll find us!" I yell at him.

"We won't be here to find," Jason says.

"We're gonna leave the fire filled with green leaves and dry wood, to make lots of smoke, and make it look like we're staying. But really, we're gonna be running that way while they waste time here thinking were close by," Peter explains.

"Oh, sorry," I say, embarrassed.

"No problem," Jason says, taking the squirrel off the fire and cutting it into little pieces with his knife.

"Here," Jason hands Peter and me some meat, and we start walking away from the fire as we eat.

"What happened to the people in thirteen ya think?" I ask as we walk.

"Anything, could've been blown up, their tents searched for any kind of information they wanted, anyone could be killed, or left there to wake up confused," Jason says, then turns around to face me, and his expression shows real pain.

"They'll be okay," I tell him.

He turns back to the woods and we continue on until night falls.

We don't light a fire. We instead gather pine needles to sleep on and cover ourselves with them to stay warm.

I fall asleep wondering how long this will continue, us running from the Capitol, from Freddy, from the president. When will they finally catch us?...I drift off.

I wake up and immediately notice a shift in the air behind me. I turn around to find a large man wearing black holding a gun to my neck, grabbing my arms, covering my mouth.

I look around and find Peter in the same position.

Jason is fighting against the guard trying to get him with his knife. The guard is frantically talking to someone over a walkie-talkie while it seems like the person is telling him what to do.

Jason has the guard right in front of him. Jason's knee is holding the guard's gun towards the ground. Jason's knife is aimed toward the guard, and for a moment it seems like Jason's winning.

Then another guard exits the jeep they came in and grabs Jason by the back, forcing him away from the first guard, but the guard wasn't expecting for the gun to be released from underneath Jason's knee, so in the guard's confusion he pushes down on the trigger as Jason's grabbed away. A loud snapping sound bursts out of the gun, and Jason falls backwards onto the ground.

Then there are masks over my eyes and ropes around my arms.

We're shoved into the jeep as I struggle against the ropes screaming Jason's name, never getting a reply. I'm shoved into the jeep next to someone I believe is Peter, and then the jeep's engine starts and we begin along the path we came from, I assume.

After a while the jeep stops. I'm pulled into a cool room with metal floors that I can't see, and I'm left on the floor. I hear a loud CLONG!

As far as I know, I'm now alone in a room. I don't hear anything anyway. I use my fingers to untie my hands enough, so I can scoot the cloth around my eyes, and I see Freddy looking down at me from a chair on the other side of the room.

I'm so angry at him I don't hesitate to bolt right at him, wanting to rip his hair out, to kick him in the face, to...I hit a thick glass shield that's been set up in front of him. Why'd I think I'd be allowed to get to him? He's safe, just like always.

"Where is he?!" I yell at him. "Where's Jason?!"

"He's safe for now. But if you continue to come after me like that, then you can assume he won't be," he says.

I ran into the glass so hard that my nose is now gushing blood. I use the black cloth that was around my eyes to stop the worst of it.

"Sophie, I only came to talk to you," he says from the other side of his force field.

I wiggle my hands out of their ropes the rest of the way, and then

I rip the cloth off my mouth.

"Ah, good work, but I have to admit, those were only meant to stay on until you got here," Freddy says.

"What are you doing this for? You already got your money," I say, disgusted with him.

"Ah, there's always another job, and I was already here, so why not bring you back again for another bag full of money?" He says, as if it's the most obvious way to earn money.

"You're disgusting," I tell him.

"Now Sophie, I understand you dislike me, but we have an offer for you, to earn your friend's safety, Jason, wasn't it?" He says.

I remain silent, mildly interested.

"Well, you know all about the Deathmatch, and we were wondering if you'd be a tribute, if we set Jason free?" he asks.

"No! For all I know he's already dead! Your goon shot him!" I say, having seen what happened when the guards took us, I'm not at all interested in what Freddy has in mind.

"Well, I can assure you he is not dead." He answers.

"Ya, okay, sure. Because I'm totally gonna trust you!" I yell at him.

"I was afraid I'd have to do this. Oh well, MARTY!" he yells. Then the door opens and a man in a black suit pulls Jason in. He's still blindfolded with a sloppily wrapped piece of cloth around his leg where the guard shot him.

"Jason! Don't do it! They're lying! They won't let us leave!" I yell to him.

"What are you talking about!" he yells back. The man Freddy called Marty forces Jason to his knees.

"But...I thought that..." I stammer.

"Well Sophie, if you wish to change your mind, you have one minute," Freddy says.

"One minute before what!" I yell.

"Well, if you won't go to the Deathmatch willingly, you'll go by force, and if you go by force, we won't have any use for him anymore," Freddy points at Jason.

"But..." I get it. If I do what they say, Jason gets to be set free. If I don't do what they say, then they'll kill him, and I'll STILL have to do what they say anyway. For Freddy, this is a win, win.

"You have one minute," Freddy says, Marty and him walk out, leaving Jason on the other side of the glass.

"What's going on?" he asks, yanking the cloth off his eyes after wiggling his hands out of the carelessly tied ropes. He is leaning against the chair Freddy occupied moments ago, tightening the cloth around his leg.

"Are you okay?" I ask, not sure what to say.

"I'm greeaat," he says, stretching the "Aaa" out in a sarcastic tone.

"I swear if he's lying..." I whisper, "Take care of my family Jason," I say, out of options.

"What? No! I'm not leaving you here!" he yells moving from the chair to the glass and trying to break it.

"You have to, just go. Don't come back. They don't want you for anything. If I don't become a tribute, they're gonna kill you," I slide down the wall of my cell, putting my head to my knees, my arms around my head.

"No, I can't!" He tells me, realizing I'm right, looking down at his leg, knowing that he wasn't who they really wanted.

"You have to," I say.

Freddy and Marty come back in.

"Come to a conclusion?" Freddy asks.

I nod.

"Well?"

"Let him go," I tell Freddy.

"I knew you would make the right choice," Freddy signals to Marty and another guard, and they grab Jason's arms and begin taking him out. Freddy follows behind them.

"Sophie! No! Don't! I won't leave you! No wait! I won't let them win! I prom-!" The door closes, and I'm left alone in the metal cell.

I sit around for what feels like hours.

I think about what Jason said before he was taken away. _I won't let them win! I prom-. _If I ever see Jason again, which is next to impossible, I'll ask him to tell me what he was going to say. Although I know he was going to say "I promise." I'll never know 100%. For all I know, it could've been "I promise, I'll never come back."

_He's pulling me through a field of roses, Jason's actually laughing for the first time since Maysilee died, but then I see Maysilee at the other side of the field, smiling and playing with Eli. I try to reach her, but the roses turn to water and I start sinking. Jason yells to me as I sink, "I won't let them win!" I sink into a world filled with black rocks and dark clouds. All the sudden Freddy is there, shoving me around, telling me what to do, and I always do it. Now I hear another voice, "Sophie, the leader, the star, the spark!" It's Victoria._

By the time I wake up, I'm shaking, sweating, and screaming.

I sit in the corner, shaking, for awhile. Then my fear is replaced with anger, and I pound on the cement walls until my hands are raw.

I eventually stop, curl up in a ball on the ground, and shut my eyes tight. I almost fall asleep, but I refuse to go back into the dark with Freddy ordering me around.

I wonder about where Jason is right now. A small chance exists that he's been released, an even smaller chance he's with his family and mine, and a much larger chance remains that Freddy was lying and he's already been killed.

I force myself to stay awake for almost a full 24 hours, then there's a tube that slides out from the ceiling. It has a door on one side. I decide I need to get out of this cell, and I place my foot carefully into the circular tube, then the rest of my body. I'm just about to step back out when the door closes behind me.

Oh no, now I've gone and done it. I've walked straight into the tube that probably leads to my worst nightmares.

The tube begins raising me up through darkness, and then all the sudden, I'm lifted into sunlight. I've been in that dark cell so long that I'm blinded temporarily. I'm outside. When my vision starts to work, it closes in on a large screen with the numbers 30, 29, 28, 27, flashing on it.

I realize I'm not outside just anywhere. I look to my left, I look to my right. I see faces of other children, most of them much older than I. I'm in the Deathmatch. The arena around me isn't just woods like the Deathmatch my sister, Maysilee, was in, but this arena has a large sandy area. _Desert_, the word comes to mind, and I suppose I've heard it in school at some point.

The timer on the large screen is nearing 0. I'm wondering where to go, what to do, whether to walk off my plate and surrender to these games that I have no chance of winning, or possibly to go out fighting, maybe even make it to the center of the field, grab a weapon, and take out my anger on the randomly reaped children around me. Though I know my chances of even taking out one are slim. When the gong rings out, I realize there are three places I could go.

The woods that are right behind me, the large desert to my left, or to the center.

I don't hesitate to run straight to the woods.

I run until I'm consumed by trees. Then I keep going.

It seems as if I've been running for hours when I finally stop. I begin coughing from the long run. I automatically stand up to grab a cup of water, but I realize that in the arena, I must find everything on my own.

I cough awhile. Then eventually, I stop, my throat dry. The sky tells me it's about...noon.

I see that I began my coughing fest right next to a large oak tree. I enjoy climbing this kind of tree, the sturdy branches, the hard bark to grip. Of course, I'm no Maysilee, she could live in a tree. I begin to climb the tree to get high enough to see some sign of water.

I spot a large rock formation with a huge waterfall rolling over it and into a pool. It looks about a mile away. Although I'm not great at keeping a straight course in the woods, I decide to wing it and hope I end up somewhere near it.

After walking for a good fifteen minutes, I reach the bottom of the rock formation and climb to the top of it where there's a spring fed pool of water. It bubbles over the edge of the rock and into the waterfall below, but I stick to the back of it so I don't fall.

I drink thirstily.

After filling myself with as much as I can hold, I sit back and lean against a tree. Immediately I sense the presence of another person behind me.

I back up to the edge of the rock, just a foot away from falling into the water fall below.

The boy is covered by a shadow the tree casts on me. He steps out into the open, revealing his face.

"Sophie, it's all right, just me." It's Peter.

Something between a squeal and a scream escapes me. I run over to him. I haven't taken the time to wonder why I'm here, but seeing Peter reminds me of Jason, of my father, of Eli, innocent little Eli. The tears roll out of my eyes without permission.

Peter opens his arms and I enter them. My tears wet his shirt's shoulder, but I stay in his embrace for a long time, not wanting to go back to reality, not wanting to be in the Deathmatch.

I start trembling all over. I'm afraid of where I am, and I'm finally realizing how much of an off chance it is that I will come anywhere near winning this. I will never see my family or Jason again.

"Where is he? Did you see him? Is he okay?" I ask Peter, knowing he probably doesn't have the answers.

"Jason? I never saw him, a tube came from the ceiling of the cell, I went in..." he says.

"Oh," I say, taking a step back, expecting him to shove me off the edge of the rocks and to kill me. My sister killed his brother, why shouldn't he?

"Sophie, hey, it's okay. We can do this," Peter forces my eyes to meet his.

"How?" I ask surprised. I feel so defeated. Why is he teaming with me anyway? My sister killed his brother. He should want to kill me.

"You're stronger than you give yourself credit for," he tells me.

"I can barely lift over 30 pounds of anything," I tell him, not feeling strong at all.

"You're mentally strong. I've seen the stuff they showed in the posters, of you helping those little kids into the helicopter when you escaped from your district," he says.

"How'd you see that?" I ask surprised.

"District thirteen people dressed as Capital guards took hundreds of pictures that night during the chaos, some of them got found out, but a few got back to thirteen with the pictures," Peter finishes.

"You were in thirteen?" I ask.

"Ya, the day you tried to escape I got away from the gas bombs and got found in the weapons vault trying to load a gun... But the guards found me.

"We should team," he says.

"Ya, sure we should," I say doubtfully.

"I- I can't- I can't do this alone. If you're only going to show me how weak you are, then this will never work out," he says, taking me into the shade under the tree I was leaning on.

"We can do this," he repeats once more.

"I know we can," I say, though not believing it myself.

"We'd better get out of here, it's rather... obvious," he says.

We move on, but keep the waterfall behind us while we jog through the woods, just in case we don't find any other water sources.

The woods change me, not for the better, or for the worse. But as I melt further into them, it feels safer.

A line from a song my father used to sing while he skinned the rabbits before my mother died comes back to me, _I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive. I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise. _As I let the sound of the song fly through my mind, I remember that I will probably never even see my father again, much less listen to him sing that song. I silence my mind and focus only on survival.

I follow Peter for a long time, and I assume he's been in the woods for a long amount of time in his life, because he navigates the branches and dead leaves so well that he barely makes a sound. Whereas every time I move I make a huge _Snap! _as if I'm making an effort to crunch every stick in the area.

The bright sun eventually begins to sink, and I have to wonder what Peter's plan for tonight is. Will we keep moving? Will we sleep on the ground? Possibly in a tree? A cave? What's he thinking?

"Peter, what're we gonna do? It's getting dark," I whisper to him.

"You think you could fall asleep in a tree?" he asks me, pointing up to a large oak tree.

"I can try," I say, but really I'm in no position to question this since he's been in charge of what to do all day. He did a pretty good job since he kept us away from the Careers, if there are any this time around.

He boosts me up first. Then I help him up. We each manage quite well with the climbing part, but once we find a nice fork to sleep on, I realize how very exhausted the hike today has made me.

"Good night Sophie," Peter says as he lies down next to me.

"Good night," I say. I stay awake a while and at around midnight, I hear the booming of six cannons. The fighting at the cornucopia must've finally ended.

Peter sits up beside me, and we both know the Careers have formed a group by now and are certainly ready to come after anyone who remains, then to kill each other when the count comes down to a handful of tributes. We decide to get sleep while we can, but before we do, the faces of those six tributes flash in the sky, with their district numbers under them. There's a girl from district four, a girl from six, both from eight, the boy from ten, the boy from eleven, then the Capitol anthem, and the sky becomes dark.

"Peter, what district are you from?" I ask him.

"One, you?" he asks me.

"Twelve, why didn't you join the Careers?" I ask.

"Because... while they're all worried about getting backstabbed by their abundance of allies, I'm safe with you," he answers, then goes to sleep before I get the chance to protest.

Why does he feel safe with me? My sister killed his brother! He should hate me! Maybe he's just tricking me; maybe this is all a scheme. He might have already decided to have the Careers kill me and add Peter to their collection of allies.

I fall asleep with another line of my father's song bouncing around my head _Me, me, me against them, me against enemies, me against friends, somehow they all seem to become one. _I try desperately to stop remembering this song, but my father makes his way into my sleeping hours. He sings to me, talks to me, then right before I wake, I have the comforting feeling of him hugging me.

When I wake up, the feeling becomes stranger and stranger as I realize it wasn't my father I was getting hugged by. It was Peter, who appears to have rolled over in his sleep and put his arm around me. I can't decide if this was just him rolling over in his sleep or if it was him trying to make sure I didn't fall out of our tree last night, or maybe he got cold. The tip of my nose has a bit of dew on it, which makes me even colder, but anyhow, I'm awake and freezing in the morning air.

I shake Peter awake.

"MmmmMmmMmMmm, coming! Muffins… They're evil!" he says as he opens his eyes, looks confused for a moment, then realizes he was dreaming.

"Oh, good morning," he corrects himself. I can't help suppressing a smile.

There's a moment of complete silence. Then I hear it, not one, but many twigs snapping. I listen intently until whatever it is gets just about right under us. I look down and almost fall out of the tree at the sight of seven tributes stopping to take a drink of water from their bottles, which they take from their packs.

Peter and I become statues.

"Don't move," he moves his lips, but doesn't dare to speak the words.

I nod.

As long as they move on before the sun rises completely, they won't see us. Then a terrifying thing happens. One of them, a large boy, strikes a match on the trunk of our tree and throws it into a pile of dry wood.

"All right, we can take a break! Five hours! Then we keep moving!" He shouts at the rest of his pack.

They all look exhausted. They've probably been awake all night, hunting those six people whose cannons Peter and I heard last night.

No doubt this is this year's Career pack.

I never thought seven people would all work together. And once everyone else is dead, which will be almost immediately with them overpowering us so greatly, they will have to kill each other. I'm guessing once the poll gets down to half they'll begin turning on each other.

The Careers settle beneath us, and four of them immediately go to sleep, obviously exhausted.

Three of them stay up. Then eventually the third is sleeping. There are two of them, a boy and a girl, guarding the rest, both of them much older, stronger, bigger, and smarter than Peter and I.

Once the two of them decide the rest have gone to sleep, they wander to the other side of our tree. They speak in hushed voices.

"Fallon, this'll never work. We've gotta stick with the Careers or they'll kill us for sure," the boy says.

"Hm, I'm not sure. I'm the biggest girl, except for maybe Jenny," the girl replies, I scan the group and assume the one she called "Jenny" is the large, muscular girl with long black hair.

"The girl from one?" he answers.

"Ya, and you're almost as big as Mike," she encourages him. I find a large boy that looks a bit bigger than the one I think is Jenny and figure that he's the "big, scary Mike" they're talking about.

"No I'm not, he's from four, probably been spearing fish since he was born, humans are no different," he replies quietly. A picture we were shown at school of district four flashes through my mind, the fishing district, surrounded by oceans.

"Either way, we'd be fine if we got far enough away before they realized we've left," the girl tells him.

"Fallon, we can't!" he attempts to keep his voice down.

"Daron, it's not a question. We'll be the first ones they turn on, being from three. My guess is that Jenny, Frank, Taylor, Mike, and Morgan will be the last of us left if it's Mike's choice," she whispers to him in a fierce voice.

"What's Mike got against us?" the boy that Fallon called Daron answers.

"I'm not sure, I guess he didn't want us with them in the first place. Morgan's the only reason he went along with it, since she and I get along well. Mike has a thing for her," Fallon and Daron are running out of time. They can either leave or stay, but if they don't do something, their "friends" are going to wake up and any kind of escape plan will be next to impossible.

"Mm, I thought he did. Fallon, we'll stay until the count gets down to twelve, then we'll clear out, I promise," he tells her.

"Fine, but if you won't come at final twelve, then I'm leaving without you," she warns him.

"No you won't," he leans down and kisses her on the cheek.

"I might," she teases.

"Go get some sleep. I'll wake Mike to help me," he tells her.

"Okay," she walks back to their group and lies down.

Daron shakes the large, muscular guy I thought was Mike awake.

"What?!" Mike asks him.

"Fallon went to sleep. We should have at least two guarding. I thought since you gloated about how you didn't need much sleep a few days ago at training that you'd be okay with it," he winks at him and gives him a hand. They sit on a fallen tree for a while. Then a terrible thing happens. The sun rises.

They'll see us for sure, I think to myself.

"It's okay," Peter mouths to me.

I look at him with worry clearly stated on my expression.

He gives me a calm look.

I nod and we wait for them to leave.


	6. Chapter 6

"All right sleeping beauties, get off you're butts and let's move!" Mike yells at his companions, I wonder if he was ever taught manners as a young boy. Probably not. Or maybe he just doesn't care if he's rude.

"Let's hunt," Mike says, they begin stuffing sleeping bags and water bottles into their packs, "Morgan, you stick with me," he winks at a sturdily built girl that appears about...sixteen? She blushes.

Thank gosh! They're leaving!

They have all their gear put together, and four of them start walking, then another two, then Morgan leans down to tie her shoe, Right. Under. My. Tree. LEAVE! I wish I could yell at her.

As she stands up, she's literally already taking the step away from our tree when she suddenly stops, turns around, and looks right at us.

"GUYS! Look! They are a couple of -!" a small dart enters her neck.

I can tell by the way Morgan immediately slumps to the ground that it was poisoned. The dart came from the other side of their make-shift camp site. I spot the assassin perched in a tree about 4 yards from the one Peter and I are in.

She looks about thirteen and carries a small straw-like tube and a pouch I assume is filled with millions of poisonous darts. She meets my eyes and gives me a nod.

She begins jumping away from us, from tree to tree. Just as her golden hair is disappearing into the woods, I see a number ten on the back of her jacket. I'll remember that. I'll remember the girl from district ten that saved my life.

While I've been distracted watching the district ten girl save my life, the Careers have come back to watch the blood drain from Morgan's face.

"Stay with me, please Morgan, don't go. You're strong, you can do this. Don't leave me here, Morgan? Morgan? MORGAN!? Morgan?" Mike holds her hand, yells her name, but she's gone.

Morgan's cannon goes off.

The Careers haven't spotted Peter and me. We slipped to the other side of the tree mid-chaos. We now hide in a cluster of vines and moss. I wish we'd have found this greenery last night. I wouldn't have had to worry about the Careers.

The moss is soft enough to sleep on. We stay here as Mike begins blaming people for his girlfriend's death.

"This was your fault!" he yells at Jenny.

"How do you figure that!?" she yells back.

"If you'd have stayed at the back of the group to guard her, you'd have caught Crystal and killed her before she killed Morgan!" he yells.

So, her name is Crystal, what a beautiful name. If Peter and I fail to win, my money's on her. She's clever, and small, and she can shoot anyone, then hop away before they know what hit them.

"That's so stupid! All I could've done is watch!" Jenny yells back.

"Well, then why doesn't everyone watch THIS?!" Mike pulls his sword from his belt.

"Fine," Jenny says, pulling out her sword and a few knives.

"Traitor!" Mike yells as he runs at her.

"You're _such_ an _idiot_!" Jenny yells back, dodging his sword and throwing a knife in his direction that rips across his arm opening a gash of blood that covers Mike's jacket.

He switches which arm his sword is in and wipes the blood off his jacket.

Jenny throws another knife in his direction. This one skids across his face, only cutting his cheek slightly. He lunges for her, not bothering to cover his wounds. I stare at the rest of the Careers, Frank, Taylor, Daron, and Fallon. I wonder why they aren't stopping Mike and Jenny. I suppose they'd like them both out of the way, so they just watch.

Mike rolls towards Jenny and cuts her leg badly. I can tell because when she leans forward and stabs him in the back, it seems she's half trying and half falling onto him due to her loss of balance.

He sinks to his knees, falls forward on his stomach, huffs his last breath, and then I hear his cannon.

Jenny is trying so desperately to staunch the flow of blood from her leg that she doesn't realize that a boy and girl, I think Frank and Taylor, are standing right over her, their knives and spears at the ready. She eventually notices though.

"Go ahead," Jenny tells them, dropping her cloths and bandages.

Frank stabs her ankle and the Careers sprint away, knowing she can no longer pursue them. As the Careers walk away, I catch a glimpse of Crystal's golden hair in the trees. Then she truly hops away. She must have wanted to know who was left, so she stayed.

Peter and I watch the Careers disappear in the direction Crystal took, leaving Morgan, Mike, and a disabled Jenny by themselves. The hovercraft appears above us and scoops up the bodies of Mike and Morgan.

Jenny seems to have fallen to sleep. I doubt she'll last very long. She's lost too much blood.

All the sudden, the cannon goes off, but it isn't for Jenny. I wonder about the possibility of the Careers having caught Crystal. But I dismiss the thought, knowing she has shiftily been jumping away through the trees for a long time. They couldn't possibly have gotten to her already.

I guess I'll know whose cannon it was tonight. Peter and I descend the tree, walk around Jenny, although she's on her way out.

Peter grabs a knife that Jenny had thrown in Mike's direction. It had missed. He lifts it, attempts to stick it in a tree, but fails miserably. He hands it to me, I line it up, and I get a solid stick in the tree. I keep it, since I guess I'm all right with it. We're in a far better position than last night, having a weapon, a possible ally, and knowing the Careers are not as powerful as before.

Peter and I begin to go in the opposite direction from the one Crystal and the remaining Careers took, but I doubt they're after her now that Mike is gone. They've probably just begun in that direction because they're anxious to hunt.

I begin to wonder who the boy from district twelve is. I wonder if he wishes to be my ally. Probably not, since I only bring people trouble these days.

We continue until we come across a river. I drink thirstily along with Peter, and I can just barely hear it, but I do.

"Thanks for saving us," I say to the broken branch that falls from the trees above me.

Crystal peers out from the foliage, "No problem," she replies.

"Nice darts," Peter tells her.

"Allies?" she asks, holding her blow gun defensively.

"Sure, as if we have any choice," I wink at her.

I'm starving, and for the first time, I think my stomach is actually 100% empty.

She scurries down the tree like a frightened squirrel. She joins us at the water and drinks thirstily, clearly having spent most of her time in the arena in the tree tops.

"Have any food?" I ask, even though we JUST became allies. I can't help it, I'm starving.

"I found an apple tree at the beginning of the games, but I've only got five left," she answers, pulling them from her back pockets.

"Here," she hands Peter and I each one.

She eats one herself.

I'm still famished, but this is a grand improvement over starving.

"Thanks Crystal," we answer.

"Don't mention it, I can find more," she seems nice enough, "and...can you guys climb trees?" she's hoping for a yes.

"Umm, well...I can climb them, but maybe not jump from tree to tree," I tell her.

"It's not that hard, I can show you how if you want," she offers.

"I guess, and how did you get away from the Careers?" Peter answers.

"I looped around after I got far enough away. They never found out I turned, and they kept going that way," she points to the opposite side of the arena.

"That's good for us," Peter says, "They almost spotted us."

"So, have any idea who died? When the stray cannon went off?" I ask her.

"I thought that was Jenny," she had seen her get injured.

"No, Jenny is out there, somewhere, though that leg of hers isn't going to last long. She'll be in the sky soon enough," I tell her.

"Oh, well then no, maybe another Career?" she asks.

"Maybe, did you shoot anymore while you were hopping away from them?" I ask.

"Nope, I just came back around," she tells me.

"We'd better get into a tree. It's getting dark," she chooses a large pine tree with sap covered branches, some of which look to be dead.

"Are you sure?" I ask, "It doesn't look very stable."

"We're not staying in this one. We're going to that one," she points to a large oak with strong, thick branches on the top, but none on the bottom.

"We're gonna jump?" Peter asks as we scale the pine.

"Is there a problem with that?" Crystal asks as if jumping from tree to tree is something we would've learned in infancy.

"As long as it's not too difficult..." The color in Peter's face drains as we near the top of the tree.

"We'll be fine," I tell him.

Crystal jumps to the other tree with ease, then looks to us expectantly.

I look down, terrified, but I decide to show no fear and impress my new ally. I scoot to the end of the branch and jump over to Crystal.

I clutch the thick branch, thanking the heavens I didn't fall.

Peter jumps over as well, but he appears scared to death.

"That was...easier than I thought it'd be," I say.

"Told ya," Crystal lies on a fork in the branches and closes her eyes. I sit down in a fork next to her, and Peter sits next to me.

"Good job," I tell Peter once Crystal's asleep.

"You too," he replies.

Peter and Crystal fall asleep at once.

But I can't help staying awake to hear the anthem and watch the dead tribute's faces shine in the sky.

First the anthem blasts from the sky. Then Mike's face appears with the number four below it; then there's Morgan from six. Now, I wonder who the last one will be. There's a large boy that appears, apparently he's from district nine. Then the Capital seal floats up and the anthem ends.

I start running through my fingers, trying to figure out how many of us are left.

There's Peter and Jenny from one, though I wouldn't bet on Jenny being a threat anymore; Frank and Taylor from two, Daron and Fallon from three, the boy and girl from five, the boy and girl from seven, the girl from nine, Crystal from ten, the girl from eleven, and then there's me and the boy from twelve.

Fifteen of us left. Two of us are from district twelve. I pray I don't end up with the task of killing the boy from my district. Then I'd have to go home and face the glares thrown at me for killing someone I might've been neighbors with.

I fall asleep confused and frightened, and when I wake up with Peter's arm around me, I don't move away. I need a friend, Crystal is a nice girl, but I don't 100% trust her yet. She's so strange, the way she teamed with us no question, when she could've killed us easily from her position. I trust Peter, not because I've known him for a lifetime, not because he saved me from some great evil, not because he's incredibly strong or handsome, but because he's been here for me when I needed him most.

I lie next to Peter as the sun rises. When he wakes up, I rise as if I'd been asleep just moments ago.

"Morning," I say sleepily.

He smiles back. Crystal lifts her arms and stretches.

"Let's get moving," she instructs us.

"Mmkay," Peter says, we descend the tree.

We begin moving into a part of the woods I'm unfamiliar with.

I notice the extreme heat waves rising everywhere I look and feel as if I'm sitting in front of an open fire.

"Crystal, where are we going?" I ask.

"There's a volcano this way. It's where I got the apples yesterday," she answers.

Oh...a volcano, that's why it's so hot...Wait a second, VOLCANO?!

"What!?" Peter and I yell at her.

"There is a large rock with molten lava pouring out of it with apple trees a few yards away from the top. If you want food, that's where we're going," she answers as if it's no big deal.

"Oh...uh...okay," I answer. Peter gives me a nod.

"She knows what she's doing. It'll be fine," he tells me.

We continue until my clothes are sticking to my skin with sweat.

There's a large stream that runs near the "volcano." We drink thirstily. I completely cover myself in the cool water, as do Peter and Crystal.

"Ahhhh, it feels so good," I say lowering myself into the stream.

"Come on," Crystal says, but not before soaking herself.

Now that I'm coated in this cool water, it's less miserable to walk closer to the source of heat.

We exit the woods, into a large open field. In the center, there's a giant black rock spewing lava from inside it.

We carefully climb the back of it, though the rock burns my hands when they come in contact with it.

At the top, there's a huge apple tree with every kind of apple imaginable. I guess they put this here on purpose. Watching tributes fight over apples on top of a volcano, what could be better than that?

We pick apples until our pockets are bursting, then go down to the bottom of the volcano and eat two each. There's a large chasm in the ground near us, with lava at the bottom, it goes down a long way, and I have a feeling that if you fall down there, you aren't coming back.

I sense the danger before Peter and Crystal. I hear the twigs snap, I turn, just in time to see Frank grab Crystal and snap her blow gun in half, grab her by the hair on her head, and dangle her over the deadly dent.

"Crystal!" I yell and lunge for Frank with my knife drawn, though I can't do anything against him, since he grabs my knife. A girl, Fallon, grabs me and holds me behind Frank, as if I'm standing in line to fall into the chasm of doom.

Peter is held behind me, by another girl, Taylor.

Frank and the rest of them are laughing.

"They're so little. Look at this one. Her teeth aren't all grown in yet, how adorable!" Frank yanks a hunk of hair from Crystal's head. She shrieks and kicks and bites his hand, but she's not trying to be free. She seems to be trying to get him to drop her into the chasm...

I guess it's better to die quickly than to be prodded and poked at until your enemy lets you fall to your death.

Crystal looks me right in the eye and mouths a word to me, but I don't catch it.

"Come on Frank, let her go. This one is squirming," Taylor complains about Peter kicking her shin.

What happens next is so sudden, I'm not prepared. Frank lets go of the clump of Crystal's hair, and she falls down to the lava pit, then there's a cannon, and I know she's gone. Frank steps back, allowing Fallon a clear path to the chasm. She drags me over, shoves me to the edge of the ground, and...

Peter spits at Fallon, as she holds me next to the edge. But then all the sudden, Fallon falls to the ground, releasing me. I knee Taylor in the arm, and she lets Peter go. Peter and I run together to the woods. I hear the sound of the Careers following us, but then I hear a cannon. I look back for a moment and spot Fallon, lying on the field with Daron sitting with her, screaming terrible things at Peter as we run from the field.

Peter and I scale a tree, get up to the slimmest branches, and taunt the Careers, who can't get to us.

"How'd you kill Fallon?" I ask him in astonishment.

"I had a dart I got from Crystal in between my teeth. I got it from Crystal. I never touched the poison part. I kept it hanging out of my mouth. I guess it came in handy," he tells me.

"Ya, I guess so," I agree.

Is this real? Have we lost Crystal? Has Peter killed Fallon? In the back of my mind, I know these things have happened, but I keep trying to think of way to make them nonexistent.

The remaining Careers, Frank, Taylor, and Daron, sleep under our tree. But when the sun goes down, we hop from tree to tree, and after a while, we're miles away from where the Careers think we are.

The anthem blasts from the sky. Fallon and Crystal shine in the sky.

Peter and I eventually decide to stop. We find a nice soft oak tree with moss and soft bark, find a nice fork, and I lay down, exhausted.

"Who's your mentor?" Peter asks me.

"Hagger, he..." I don't know what I was going to say, but I stop.

"He what?" Peter asks.

"He's probably happy we're allies," I say.

"Oh, ya, Bree will be happy we're allies as well, she really liked you're sister while she was in the Capitol training. Ya know, before she killed Brandon..." he says.

"Bree? Sounds like a pretty name," I say, changing the subject.

"Ya, she's as pretty as her name. Her husband adores her," Peter tells me.

"Hey Hagger, Bree, if you're not too busy, it wouldn't hurt to send us something! If you're even watching..." Peter yells into the air.

It's funny how quickly the parachute appears in the sky and lands on the tree next to us.

I hop over to retrieve it and bring it back to Peter.

"Food, real food, and a pack!" I say. There's a large piece of roasted chicken, eight rolls, no doubt from the Capitol, and the best of all, a water bottle filled to the rim with cool fresh water and ice. There's also a backpack strapped to the bottom, appearing empty, probably to carry our food in.

Peter and I both drink about a quart of water. This bottle holds almost four quarts.

"Should we eat some of it?" I stare at the food. It's still warm.

"I don't think it's a question, I'm starving," he says, ripping the chicken in four equal pieces, each of us have a fourth of the chicken and one roll, wrapping the rest up in the cloth from the parachute and stuffing it in the backpack, finding there are matches in the front compartment.

"Thank you, Hagger," I say into the night air as Peter and I fall asleep with full bellies.

"Oh Bree, oh Bree, thank you," Peter says, clutching the pack as he falls asleep.

I stare at Peter awhile, watching him stir restlessly as we get into the night hours, look at the bags under his eyes. I shake him awake.

"What's wrong? You're gonna fall out of the tree if you keep squirming like that," I tell him with a faint giggle.

"Ya, sorry, I was just dreaming..." he says, putting his head down.

"It's fine, I just don't want you to fall out of the tree with our only pack," I say teasingly.

I put my cheek against the rough bark and fall to sleep.

"Sophie, shhh..." I wake, seeing Peter's face right in front of mine.

"What? Why are you..." he puts his hand over my mouth.

"Shhhh..." he says more forcefully.  
I silence myself and look down, below our tree.

A few yards away from the trunk there're four great big bears, one is dark gray, another is pure white, the smallest is a blond color, the largest, scariest looking is a jet black color.

I look at them, flash back to when I was staring right at a bear, about to back up and over the cliff, down to the river...

I'm shaking, remembering how very terrified that moment had made me. I feel certain Freddy himself has sent this pack of bears right to me, to scare me... I won't let him.

I sit up straight, look right at the biggest, scariest, blackest furred bear I've ever seen.

"Hey ugly! Come get me!" I yell at it.

"Shhh, why would you do that! Sophie! Now, they won't leave us alone. Why didn't you just let them pass us!" Peter yells angrily at me, running his hand through his hair.

The bears look at us, stare at us. I look right into the eyes of the big, black one. They are unforgiving, but I stare right back, not showing any fear. The bear scratches at the trunk of our tree angrily, I have made him look weak. He wants revenge.

"Sorry, I just..." I can't let Freddy know that I was scared for even half a second, and he's 100% guaranteed to be locked to the screen right now, watching me. "I just... we can jump away in the trees" I suggest.

"Fine, sorry I got mad. I just... It's fine, come on," he says, jumping to a tree next to us. I follow him.

We jump from tree to tree for a while. Then I hear voices. Not the ones in your head that mean you're insane, but real ones. I stop jumping, grab Peter's arm, and I force both of us against the trunk of the tree we're currently in.

"What's wrong?" he asks, looking around the trunk, attempting to find my source of discomfort.

"Peter, shh, didn't you hear that? They're right..." the remaining three Careers pass right under our tree.

Peter and I become statues once again, not daring to even breathe.

Suddenly, a cannon goes off.

"Must be Jenny, took her long enough," Taylor says, reaching for her water bottle.

"Mmm, probably, where should we go next? We've already looked through most of the woods. You guys wanna move on to the desert?" Frank asks Taylor and Daron.

"Sure, but I think the two kids, Peter and... that girl, they're probably in the woods somewhere," Daron answers.

Hey Daron, you're right! Not only are we in the woods, but we're right above you! I wish I could yell at him.

"Her name was Sophie I think, district twelve. I wonder why she wasn't at the training... neither was her friend Peter," Taylor says.

"Who cares? They're here now, and I plan on finding them. We haven't found them in the woods, and last time we saw them they were in the trees, so even if we found them, it wouldn't be easy to kill them..." Frank tells his companions.

"Good point, so... the desert?" Daron asks.

"Sure," Taylor says, putting her water bottle back in her pack.

Frank, Taylor, and Daron run off, apparently headed for the desert.

After we're positive they've gotten out of earshot, Peter and I let out sighs of relief.

"Thank gosh, we're free... from the Careers at least for a while," Peter says triumphantly.

"Yay for us," I say, but I'm exhausted and I don't have enough energy left to cheer about our slight advantage, that I know will soon fade away.

There's the loud boom of a cannon, then silence.

"We'll know who that was for soon enough," Peter motions to the setting sun, "I bet the one that went off earlier was Jenny's, this one... it could be anyone."

We break open our pack, which has been on Peter's back all day and grab a fourth of the chicken and split it in half. We're not real hungry today, so we only have some chicken and a roll each.

All we have left as far as food is four apples, four rolls, and a bit of chicken... food runs out so quickly.

"Why don't we sleep in there tonight?" Peter asks, motioning to an opening in the side of a hill below us.

"Okay, sure," I say, because sleeping 50 feet off the ground is getting a bit...scary.

We descend our tree and crawl into the small, warm cave.

It's a bit damp, since there's a small opening in the rocks where fresh water runs in and makes a little puddle. We fill our water bottle and dry off a spot on the other side of the cave.

"Good night Sophie," Peter says, lying down with his arm under his head.

"You go to sleep, I want to..." I pause, then continue anyway, "I want to wash off in the water, I'm filthy," I say.

"Oh," he says, "Then um... ya, go ahead, I won't watch, I'll just..." he positions himself so he's staring at the cave wall, "there we are." He appears to fall asleep.

I giggle, though it's stupid that I find the fact that Peter had to reposition himself against the wall amusing.

"Peter, are you still awake?" I loudly whisper to him.

I get no response.

I take off my dirty jacket, boots, and socks and scrub them off in the water, then leave them to dry on the cool cave floor.

I remove my shirt and pants and wade into the small puddle of water, finding that it's almost a foot deep in the middle and sit down to scrub the disgusting bark and dirt off my hands and legs and feet. Then I wash my face. I dunk my head under water and scrub out all the twigs and bark from my hair.

I stand up, dry myself off with my still-wet jacket and dress back into my shirt and pants. I'll put my jacket, socks, and boots back on in the morning once they're dryer.

I hear the Capitol anthem begin and stare through the entrance of our cave into the night sky and watch first Jenny's, then a girl from district eleven's face shine in the sky. They disappear. This isn't important enough to wake Peter for. I'll tell him tomorrow.

I lie down next to Peter and fall to sleep.

I'm awoken by a damp Peter.

"Hey, good idea with the whole _get clean _concept," he says, shaking his hair dry.

Boys are lucky with their short hair. I hate my hair, I always have to let it air dry since I've never had the patience to blow-dry it with those fancy new hair dryers we could finally afford after Jason won the Deathmatch.

"Mmm, you finally smell like something other than bark and bird poop!" I exclaim sarcastically.

"How was I supposed to know the bird's nest was right above me?" he says laughing.

"You could've, well you might've been able to, I guess we should've..." I stumble on my words.

He falls over laughing, amused at my inability to come up with a logical response.

I huff in defeat.

"You're the one the bird took a crap on..." I say, trying to even the playing field.

"Fine, fine, all's fair in love and...fighting to the death..?" Peter says in a comical voice.

"What are we going to do at final two,... If we make it there together?" I ask him, it's an honest question.

"I keep wishing there was a way to have both of us win...but there isn't," he says, snapping back to reality.

"Well, the odds are still against that happening, so don't worry too much about it," I say, standing up, exiting the cave.

"If we're in final two... then you should go home to your family," Peter says after a while of walking through the woods.

"No, I can't kill you. I don't really _want_ to kill anyone..." I tell him.

"I get that, but it's not that hard. It's kinda like stepping on a bug," he says.

"It's nothing like that," I begin, "bugs aren't...humans. They don't fight back, unless they have a stinger," I say.

He gives a hint on laughter at my stinger remark, "Well, not _all _humans fight back, like Jenny," Peter says.

"I don't think that everyone in the arena is going to spontaneously fall over with a cut on their leg," I say.

Peter pretends to fall over, holding his leg dramatically, "Ah! My leg! It spontaneously got stabbed!" he says, waiting for my response.

"Very funny," I say, we continue on through the woods until night fall.

"Oh, I almost forgot to ask, who was it that died? I slept through it last night," he asks me.

"A girl from eleven and Jenny," I tell him.

He nods, "Where shall we sleep tonight? A tree, a cave, or should we build a hut and live here for the rest of our lives?" he teases.

"Hmm, I was thinking we would build a house underwater with our friend Mr. Shark and Miss Turtle," I tease back.

"Fair enough," he replies.

"What's that?" I point to a pillar of smoke in the distance.

"Must be someone other than the Careers, they went in the opposite direction this morning," Peter says.

"Let's get closer, not on the ground though. We can take to the trees," I suggest.

"Sure, but we haven't got any weapons left," he reminds me.

"Well, we didn't have weapons when we were above the Careers and we were fine, so come on," I say, scaling a large birch tree.

"All right," he says, following me.

We hop from tree to tree and eventually get right above where the smoke is coming from. There's a boy and a girl sitting at the fire, the girl appears to be asleep, leaning against a tree.

The boy sits guard, watching the woods. He's obviously not doing a great job with watching the woods, because Peter and I are just about right above him, and he hasn't remotely noticed.

There's a crack of a branch, a change in the wind. Then they're there. Another boy and girl break through the woods and begin to run into the clearing where the girl and the boy started their fire.

"Stephanie, run! Go! Get out of here!" The boy yells to the still half asleep girl.

"What's going on Kenneth! Kenneth! No, I don't want to go without you! Who's coming! What's wrong?!" She shrieks at Kenneth.

"The girl and boy from seven are coming. Stephanie, come on, run!" The boy, apparently named Kenneth, the girl, apparently Stephanie, run away from their fire and into the woods.

The boy and girl from seven run after them, knives drawn. As far as I can see, that's the only weapon either of them have.

Then Stephanie turns around, sling-shot loaded with a sharp needle-like dart, and shoots at the boy from seven.

She hits him in the leg.

He immediately stumbles, falls, and pulls the dart out. Though I'd bet it had poison on it, like Crystal's blow-gun.

"Lenny! What happened, are you okay?" The girl from seven stops chasing Stephanie and Kenneth, coming back to Lenny.

"Maple, you have to win. Just don't leave my family to starve," he talks quickly.

A cannon goes off. Maple backs away from Lenny. Then she sprints away in the direction Stephanie and Kenneth took, seeking revenge.

Peter and I hop away in the opposite direction using the short, stubby limbs that grow on the tip of the oak trees.

The anthem blasts into the night air. Lenny's face shines in the sky with the district number seven below him. Then the anthem ends, and the sky goes black, the night animals come out, and the sounds diminish. It's time to get some rest...

"We should get some sleep while we have the chance," I tell Peter.

"Good idea," he answers, arranging some leaves and moss around on a fork in an oak tree.

"Night, Peter," I say, already drifting off to sleep.

"Night, Sophie," he says, lying down next to me.

In the morning I wake up with the tip of my nose frozen.

I'm shaking so hard I worry I'll fall out of the tree. I grab Peter, whose also shaking like crazy.

"S-s-sophie, w-w-we n-n-need t-t-to g-g-g-get t-t-t-to uh-uh-a k-k-c-cave. I'm f-f-f-free-e-e-ezing," he says.

We help each other down the tree, walk for a while, find a cave, walk into it, curl up in the corner, and shiver.

"It's like there's a winter storm shooting over the arena," Peter says after we defrost for a while.

"Ya, maybe it'll warm up when the sun rises a bit more," I say hopefully.

We take turns napping while the other keeps guard until we're both restless.

"I'm starving," I say.

"Me too, let's eat," he says, grabbing the food out of the pack.

Peter surprises me when he breaks the rest of the chicken and rolls in half, along with an apple each. All he leaves in the pack is two apples.

"Eat slowly, it'll make it last longer," Peter says.

We both eat slowly, but the food's gone fast.

"Hagger, please send us food," I whisper in the cave.

"Bree," Peter says.

Nothing arrives.

"We'll be fine for a while, but eventually... we'll have to find food," Peter tells me.

"Ya, I know how to gather greens and berries, but we'll need some sort of snare or weapon to get any meat. I don't even know how to set a snare though," I tell him. Snares always came so easily to Maysilee.

We sit around for what feels like forever. A few hours later I hear a noise.

There's a thump outside our cave, and immediately I'm prepared to meet an adversary.

No one appears.


	7. Chapter 7

Peter walks out of the cave and shouts in triumph!

"Food! More food!" Peter yells.

"Shhhhh, Peter, shhh," I whisper to him.

He hands me a basket with ten large rolls and a small block of cheese.

"Mmmmm, looks good," I say, smelling the fresh rolls in the basket.

"Let's save this for later. We've already eaten so much," Peter says.

"It's gonna be hard to wait..." I say longingly.

"Ya," Peter says.

We set the basket down, but after twenty minutes, we split a roll.

Still warm. So good.

"Want some cheese?" Peter says, spreading some onto his half of the roll.

"Sure," I say, holding my roll out for him to put a glob of cheese on.

"Mmmmmm, that makes it taste so... so... so..." I can't find the word for something this delicious.

"Sweet," he finishes my sentence for me.

"Ya, sweet," I say, leaning back against the cave wall, savoring every last bite.

The bread is wonderful, but the cheese, Oh! The cheese.

"How long do I have to wait to have more?" I ask as I put the last bit of bread in my mouth.

"We don't wanna finish it, so let's just go back to sleep. No cannons went off today, no anthem tonight, it's almost dark out anyway," Peter says lying down next to me.

"Ok, but we each get a roll in the morning," I say.

His mouth widens to a smile.

I fall asleep without listening to my stomach grumbling... I could get used to this.

I wake up to the sound of Peter smashing rocks against each other.

"What're you doing?" I ask, grabbing the rocks away from him, "Someone might hear us!"

"Hey, give those back Sophie. It's fine, I was only making a knife... well, sort of," he says, grabbing his "knife" back and showing me the sharpened edge.

"Oh well, don't be so loud," I say breaking open our food.

I grab for the block of cheese and some rolls, but three of our rolls are missing.

"You ate THREE rolls last night!?" I whisper to him in an angry tone.

"What? No I didn't! Why would you think that?" he says peering into our food basket.

"I thought we had ten rolls in all, we only ate ONE last night," he says, equally puzzled.

"Hmm," I think.

"Maybe an animal got in here and took some rolls," Peter says.

"And then the animal wrapped our basket back up perfectly and left silently," I say sarcastically.

"Okay, maybe that's not as logical as I thought," Peter says, stumped.

"Must be someone out there, someone that was starving. They must've heard us last night and waited for us to go to sleep, might've killed us... Maybe they didn't have a weapon," I say.

"That must be it," Peter says, snapping his fingers.

"We'd better be careful from now on, maybe we should have alternating shifts of sleep. Next time whoever it is might try to strangle us," I say.

Peter nods.

All we have left in our dwindling food supply is six rolls, some cheese, and two apples.

I grab the apples.

"Here, let's eat on the move. I want to get away from here," I say, packing up our few belongings.

"All right," Peter says, grabbing the apple from my hand and taking a huge bite.

We move out of our cave. Nothing shows any signs of a tribute sneaking into our cave last night. No foot prints, no broken branches... They're keeping a disturbingly low profile.

As we keep walking, I see a small wooden box shaped thing on the side of a tree.

"Ah, ow! What the heck?" I feel a sharp pinch on the bottom of my foot as I jerk it backwards.

I fall backwards on to the soft moss on the woods floor.

"What happened?" Peter asks, helping me on to a broken log.

"I stepped on something. It was sharp..." I say, taking off my shoes and socks.

When I take off my socks I find a small red dot on the bottom of my foot, a little blood dripping off of it. I put my sock over it.

"Uhf, what was that!" I ask Peter as he lifts a small metal nail from the ground, examining it.

"Hmmm, it's a nail, looks like it fell off this," Peter says, motioning to the wooden box.

"What is that? Looks like some sort of birds' house..." I say, knowing there aren't any birdhouses in the arena.

"It sounds like... it's almost... can you hear that?" Peter asks, being very quiet.

"What?" I ask, wincing as I put on my sock and shoe again.

"Stingers," Peter says, his pupils dilating in fear.

"It's a stinger house! It was planted here! We gotta get out of here!" Peter says, forcing my shoe back on.

I freeze. I've heard this word twice before. _Stinger._ I heard it once when a stinger killed my mother. I heard it once when a stinger killed Jason's father and almost killed Maysilee. I can't move. I'm like a stone.

I'm frozen with anger.

"Sophie, come on! Come on Sophie! Sophie would you come on!" Peter yells at me and pushes me away from the box of stingers.

I start yelling as well.

"You killed my mother! You killed her! She's dead! You tried to kill my sister! Come get me! Come get me you stupid beasts! Come on, I'm ready! Come get me just like you got them," I sink to the ground crying.

"Sophie, come on, there's nothing left for you here. If we stay any longer they'll come out," Peter says in a much kinder voice.

I sob for a long time while Peter helps me through the woods.

My foot is killing me, but I don't let it distract me. I want to destroy every single one of those deadly stingers.

"Are you okay to climb?" Peter asks as we come to a large spruce tree that stands in a new part of the arena. There are pine needles and grass and big meadows everywhere.

I nod, scale the tree, and fall to sleep without further discussion.

I wake up shaking with fear. I replace it with cold anger.

Peter wakes up to me gnawing on my teeth, and says, "One time, before the Deathmatch, my mom and dad were outside in our garden, picking strawberries that my mother sold in town. I went out with them... Then Brandon came out to join me. We sat on two swings my father made us when we were little. I grabbed my brother's hand... I'm not exactly sure why, but all the sudden, I was afraid of a world without my older brother, but, of course, I dismissed that thought. I had assumed that I'd never lose Brandon, he'd always be my older brother..." Peter pauses, "but then the Deathmatch started, he got picked... and then one day he disappeared on a train. I never saw him again," he finishes.

I don't know whether this is meant to make me feel sorry for him or to feel that I should stop sobbing, to realize that everyone has felt sadness at losing someone they love. But I know this isn't the case. He's trying to make me feel better... in his own way. I hope Jason is watching this from somewhere. A cell... home... district thirteen... anywhere really. I want him to feel a pang of guilt at letting Maysilee die. I know this is an awful thing to think, but at this point, I need someone to blame other than myself.

Peter falls back to sleep with his arm around me. I don't move away.

I wake up to a late afternoon sky with Peter looking down at me.

"Why'd you let me sleep?!" I ask him, sitting up in astonishment.

"I was organizing the pack... and the food... and I may have been sleeping part of the time too," Peter admits, "What's wrong with a couple hours of peace and quiet and rest?"

"Nothing," I say, leaning against the trunk of our tree.

I stand up on the fork in the tree where we were sleeping and begin climbing higher. There's something I need to see.

I get all the way to the top, the branches up here are thin, but I'm small enough that I can come up here.

"What're you doing?" Peter asks, stopping when the branches get to small for him.

"I have a plan," I tell him.

I get to the very top of the tree and look down into the center of the arena and spot the golden horn where the games started. There're still weapons left, not the great, fantastic ones... but this is no time to be picky.

"Let's go," I say, sliding down to where Peter is sitting.

"Go where?" he asks as we pack up our gear.

"We need some weapons, we're going to the center," I say as we begin to hop through the trees in the cornucopia's direction.

"All right," Peter says, following closely behind me.

We jump for a long time, since we were so far from the cornucopia. Eventually we reach the end of the tree line.

I slide down the thin trunk of a birch tree.

Peter follows me silently, and we ready ourselves to sprint in, get some weapons, and get out.

"You ready?" I ask.

"As I'll ever be. You think there's anyone around here?" he asks.

"Only one way to find out," I say hesitantly.

"Hey, it's okay, we can do this. I'd bet everyone has their own little camp out there, not here," he reassures me.

"Let's go, 3... 2..." We sprint into the plains surrounding the golden horn.

I grab a mace, drop it since I don't know how to use one and can barely lift it, and grab five knives and put them in my belt.

Peter has a large sword and a small dagger.

We sprint away towards the woods.

We enter the woods, scale a tree, and see if anyone is going to pursue us.

"Where'd they go!" I hear a familiar voice below us.

Frank, Taylor, and Daron break through the brush and meet at the bottom of our tree.

"I see um!" yells Daron, pointing at us.

"Crap..." I whisper as Peter and I scale the tree to the top.

We get out of knife throwing distance and switch over to a larger, taller spruce tree from the top of the oak tree.

Taylor follows us until the branches are snapping under her. Then she slips on one and cuts her leg against the rough bark. She slowly slides to the ground.

"Taylor, you okay?" Frank stops his attempt at hitting us with a spear.

"I'm fine," she says, wrapping her leg in a thin bandage.

"Aight' kiddies! Come on down! Or we'll come up after you!" Daron yells.

"We're good, why don't you come up? It's rather hot down there, much cooler up here," I yell back.

"I believe I will!" Daron begins scaling the spruce tree.

We jump back to the oak tree, then over to a birch tree that is far out of his weight range.

I hear him cuss under his breath.

"Those stupid kids won't ever come down, and if we try to camp under their tree..." Daron rages to his allies.

"I know, they'll just hop away like before," Taylor finishes his sentence for him.

"Maybe we should just watch them..." Frank suggests.

Then there's a terrible wailing sound that only an animal is capable of making.

"Someone's close! Come on, we'll find these kids again. Whoever's out there killing animals for food must be hungry, armed, and afraid of the Careers!" Taylor says triumphantly, taking off in the direction of the sound.

The other two boys follow her, and Peter and I immediately hop in the opposite direction with our trees.

"Come on. Let's get out of this part of the woods... I don't like running into the Careers on a regular basis," Peter says, changing course for the other side of the arena.

"Good idea," I say and follow him.

We continue leaping from tree to tree until night fall. We're just reaching the other side of the arena as the sun sets.

"Let's eat and sleep. We can keep going in the morning," I say, arranging some moss and leaves in a high fork on the top of a birch tree.

We each eat a roll and some cheese. I even give us each a couple of apple slices.

"All right, we should sleep..." I say, finding a comfortable spot to sleep.

"Okay, I'm exhausted..." Peter says, lying down, closing his eyes, and beginning to snore.

"Oh great, he snores!" I say, not for anyone in the arena, but for the Capitol people who are watching... They must have some money... Sponsor me!

"Hagger, what am I supposed to do? The Careers trap us in trees every time we see them! They're so strong. Peter and I are a joke to them! Hagger please! Tell me how to win..." I plead into the night sky.

I'm replied to with the arrival of a silver parachute.

"What is that?" Peter asks waking to the clunking sound the parachute makes when it lands.

It's an emerald-colored bow with 24 emerald arrows attached to it with a sheath.

"I can't use a bow..." Peter admits.

"I can't either," I say, confused at Hagger's motive to send this useless weapon.

"I can," the voice comes from somewhere in the foliage. I'm certain of who its owner is though.

"Jason?" I say quietly.

"Ya, I'm here."

I finally find his eyes shining through the leaves of an oak tree right next to us.

"You've been following us? You're here? But...wait, I thought..." I swear... Freddy is gonna get it big time, first he throws Peter and I in this arena, then he goes back on his word and sends Jason in with us.

"No, I wasn't following you. I was the one the Careers heard killing that beaver," he holds up the beaver by its tail, then leaves it to dangle from his belt.

"What are you doing here...? Freddy said you were safe, that you were going home, that if I came no one else would," I say, angry at myself for believing that Freddy's word was worth more than a piece of dirt.

"What can I say? They needed a district twelve male tribute," he says sarcastically, obviously never having had faith in Freddy's word.

"But... Freddy you son of a..." Peter stops himself.

"I hope that traitor is watching right now," I say, "because when we get out of here, I'm coming for him, no matter what."

Jason shifts his weight on the branch as he begins to speak, revealing a black rose on his wrist. Nice tattoo, I think to myself.

"We're not getting out of here. You might, but not all of us," Jason says, moving over to our tree with careful placement of his feet, stumbling at the slightest movement of the branches, for these branches were much too short and small for him.

"Your leg..." I say bending down to where there was once a bullet hole, now just a scab over his skin.

"I woke up in my cell with it like that, some kind of Capitol medicine I guess," he says, obviously not forgiving Freddy in the slightest.

"I'll never kill either of you," I promise them suddenly, as if I have to know that our team has grown to the number of three.

"I could never kill either of you..." Jason admits.

"I..." Peter begins, "I don't know yet."

"Fair enough," Jason says, examining the bow.

"So this is for me?" he asks, looking through the arrows.

"If you want them..." I say, remembering that Victoria wouldn't let him use a bow at training because of Maysilee.

He looks at me, really looks.

"Of course I want them, I'm not as good as Maysilee was, but I'm all right," he says as if there's no problem, so I drop it.

After Jason and Peter fall to sleep in our tree, I whisper to the night air.

"I get it Hagger. You knew we were safe this whole time... Thank you, for the bow. We have a chance now... I hope," I begin to fall to sleep, wondering if Jason being here is a blessing or a curse.

Three cannons go off before I fall to sleep, all right about the same time.

The anthem blasts in the sky, and I watch first Kenneth from district five, then Maple from district seven, then Sammy from district nine shine in the sky. I wonder if they were victims of each other or of the Careers... Jason is sitting up beside me, watching the sky.

"So there's only seven of us left," Jason says.

"Ya, who's left other than us and the Careers?" I ask.

"Stephanie, she was Kenneth's district partner. I have a feeling she cleaned up that little fight," Jason says.

"You're probably right..." I trail off.

"Do you really trust him?" Jason says, motioning to Peter.

"I think so," I admit.

"Be careful," he says.

"I always am," I say sleepily.

We fall to sleep, knowing we'll have to come face to face with the Careers eventually.

In the morning I sit up, stretch, and wake Peter and Jason.

"Where should we go? Maybe we should try to take out the Careers," I say.

"Ya, there's no use in putting it off," Peter agrees.

We take to the ground, since being with Jason and hopping from tree to tree don't really go together.

We walk for a long time, in the direction we saw the Careers take the other day.

Eventually, we see a pillar of smoke in the distance.

Peter and I take to the trees, Jason follows us with an edge of doubt, but he's actually great at hopping from tree to tree. And he's finally becoming comfortable hopping from tree to tree when we find the fire starters on the ground, one of them sleeping.

"Come on Taylor!" Frank nudges at her to wake up.

"I'm coming," Taylor says, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

An arrow is shot right at Daron. It gets him right in the knee.

"Ah! Ow, what the..." he sits against a tree, looking around wildly for the attacker, who is concealed in a tree.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Frank yells, with his spear lifted in a defensive position.

Another arrow goes right at Daron, hits him directly in the head. He falls over.

A cannon goes off.

"I see them! Come on, let's get out of here!" Frank yells, throwing a spear in our direction. It gets lodged in a tree.

"Let's follow them. Come on, they're running scared!" Peter says, leaping into a tree in front of us. I follow him with Jason right behind me.

Frank and Taylor eventually stop, wondering if we've followed them.

"Taylor, do you see them? Taylor.. Taylor!" Frank yells. While they were running, Taylor and Frank split up. We follow Frank.

An arrow is shot at Frank, Jason misses by a few inches.

"There they are!" Frank yells, throwing a handful of knives in our direction.

One knife skids across my cheek opening a large cut. I grab a handful of moss from the tree and press it against my cheek.

"You okay?" Jason asks, clearly more interested at aiming at Frank.

"I'm fine," I say, throwing a knife in Frank's direction.

It nails him in the stomach and he falls to the ground. He pulls it out, but I got him.

A cannon goes off.

"Good shot..." Jason says quietly.

I nod, turning away from him.

A large explosion goes off in the arena. I can't see. It's too bright. The arena is imploding on itself... what? I don't even, what's going on!

The light is shining right at me. I try to close my eyes, but I can't move. I'm cemented in my position. The moss falls off my cheek.

All the sudden everything is black. I still can't move. There's a slightly nice sensation of warmth and something soft...

I wake up in a white room with walls made of soft pillowy things. I'm in a bed with a large white comforter, and I'm dressed in the jacket and pants I wore in the arena.

I'm dumbfounded. Nobody won...? It was me, Jason, Peter, and... the other two, Taylor and Stephanie.

What's going on? Am I dreaming? I must be. I pinch myself.

"Ow!" I say, pulling my fingers away from my arm.

Okay, I'm awake.

"Hello Sophie," a familiar, disgusting voice greets me. I turn my head.

I turn my head again, to the other side of my bed and find a window on the top of the room.

Freddy is looking down at me.

"You... get away from me. I'd prefer to go back to the arena than to talk to you," I say, covering my ears.

"Sophie, we can talk now, or I can bring your friends in for some... incentive to do what I say," he says, glaring at me.

I glare back.

"What do you want now? You tried to kill me in the arena. You sent Jason in when you promised you wouldn't, and you risked Peter's life in the process, yet here I am. You can't get rid of me," I say proudly.

"You're right, I can't. That's the issue, but I've found a way to get rid of you, don't worry," Freddy says, scratching his head.

"You're going to go live on an island, a far away island on some remote place... somewhere that no one can get to you, somewhere you can't tell people to rebel, somewhere you can't be the "spark"..." he finishes.

"I'll always be the spark," I say.

"You'll remain the face of the rebellion for a while, but eventually people will believe you to be dead," he says carelessly.

"Who's coming with me?" I ask, kind of happy. This is certainly better than being here, surrounded by people who want to kill me.

"Jason, your father, your little brother... Jason's mother, his siblings, anyone related to you or the rebellion, including Victoria," he says.

"Peter comes or I won't go," I say defiantly.

"All right, but I was going to let him go back home," Freddy says.

"Just like you were going to let Jason go back home?" I ask sarcastically.

"I'm glad you finally understand me," Freddy says, and stands to leave.

"Wait!" I yell.

"What is it?" he says, clearly having somewhere else to be.

"What about the girls that were left in the arena? Uhh... Taylor and Stephanie?" I ask.

"Oh," he chuckles, "All they think is that you and your friends, Jason and Peter, have been killed by the Capitol. They were allowed to continue their games," he tells me, in a matter-of-fact way.

"But... who won?" I ask. I want to know.

"I believe the girl from district two won, Taylor," he answers as if he doesn't remember the other girl. Her name was Stephanie, you moron. Freddy walks out of the room with the high up window on the wall and disappears behind a large, black curtain. Then I hear a clinking noise, probably a door closing on the other side of the curtain.

I forgot to ask about Hagger... but he's related to the rebellion, so he's obviously going to come...

I'm so conflicted, I mean, if Freddy is really going to let us go, to live on our own, left alone, then this sounds... perfect. I never exactly cared about the rebellion. I don't even really care about what happens to the rest of humanity if it means my family and everyone I care about are left alone. Finally left alone.

I fall asleep on the soft bed, far beyond caring if Freddy is lying or being truthful. I want to be free of this torture. I hate the Capitol. I hate Freddy. I hate the way I've let them step all over me the past few months. I want to get away from this. I want to see if Freddy is being honest, if he really is going to let me go off and live with everyone I love, to leave me alone.

I wake up coughing out sand and salt water. I'm sitting on a beach. I'm surrounded by the people Freddy had promised. I spot Jason and Peter near a small hut made of grasses.

We're all here. Everyone I wanted. I feel a pang of guilt at choosing for them to come when they never got any input.

Hagger, my father, Eli, Jason's family... they're all here. Everyone looks so confused...

There aren't any boats here, but there are trees. I guess we're stuck for now, but Freddy kept his word. We're free to be here. I know he can still come here, but I have a feeling that won't happen. If he wanted to do us any harm, he would've killed us all long ago.

I walk into one of the small huts made of grass and find a little book on a table in the corner.

It's my scrapbook, opened to the page of Maysilee laughing with me and Eli in the meadow filled with wild flowers. I stare at the picture a long time, remembering that day... We were collecting wild strawberries when my father came out with his old camera. I look at the stain of strawberry juice on Eli's shirt. A slight laugh exits my mouth.

Now, we're on this island to be safe from Freddy and the Capitol, so for now I'll let it go. I will try to forget about all the evils that have been thrust upon me and my family. We're finally safe.

But no, it's too late for that. Eventually I'll get back to him, I'll come and destroy the Capitol, but for now, I'm on this island to lay low. Someday the rebellion will become victorious.

**The End of Part 2**


	8. Chapter 8

**Lost Part 3**

After five months on an island, you'd have thought I would be used to eating nothing but fish and roots. But, of course, the fish are slimy, even if they're cooked, and the roots are dry.

"Hey Sophie, check this out!" Peter yells from the beach as he lifts a shiny rock from a reef area by the shore.

I walk over to him stretching.

"Morning," I say, looking at the rock as I approach him.

"It's an oyster!" he says, as if that means something.

"And?" I ask.

"Well, we can eat them. They are shell fish, not slimy fish," he says, picking up three at once from the little nook in the rocks.

"Mmm, anything but those slimy fish," I say, licking my lips.

"I hate to say it, but oysters are even slimier than fish," he says, cracking one opened with his rock he calls a knife.

"You... Uhhhgg!" I stomp off into the water to wash off the dirt from my feet and knees.

He falls over laughing in the sand.

"You... are literally... the only... person... I know... who doesn't... like... seafood!" he says, catching his breath.

"You look dry," I say, splashing him.

"It's on," he says, running into the water.

We have an all-out splash war and end up drenched.

I eventually swallow salt water up my nose and my mouth and have to stop because I'm coughing.

"Okay, I surrender, you win," I say laughing.

"That's what I like to hear!" he says triumphantly.

"How'd you get all wet?" Jason asks as he approaches us on the beach, taking off his shirt.

"I splashed Peter, and he had to prove how manly he was by winning a splash fight," I say, putting my hair up so it doesn't drip all over me.

"Ah," he says, washing his feet off in the water.

"Why did you take your shirt off if you were only washing your feet?" Peter asks.

I grin, sitting in the sand putting my make-shift leaf shoes on. They're actually pretty comfy.

"Well... I wouldn't want it to get wet," he says.

"Sure, that's why," Peter says rolling his eyes.

"Well then, while you two boys have a fight over who has a shirt on or off, I'll be getting my breakfast," I say.

They don't admit it, but Jason and Peter act like they're brothers.

"Get me an apple!" Jason yells after me.

"Me too!" Peter yells.

"If you want apples, then you should find them!" I tease.

"You won't show us where they are!" Peter complains.

"They're mine!" I tease, walking away.

"She doesn't like oysters, so she lives on apples," I hear Peter tell Jason as they begin laughing about it for the thousandth time since we got here.

I walk down the beach to find my favorite tree.

My apple tree is right on the edge of a flat hill near a deep bit of ocean.

I grab three apples and eat them in the little fork of leaves I've constructed over the past weeks.

After I've eaten, I climb to the top of the tree where it bends directly over the water. It's almost a twenty foot drop, but it's never scared me.

I run off the large, thick branch and fall down to the water foot first in a pencil dive.

I splash into the water and immediately start kicking, so I can surface.

As I push myself up, treading water quickly, another person splashes in the water after me.

Whoever that was, they just dug their toenail into my heel. I wait for them to surface. After ten seconds pass, I consider the probability of it having been a branch.

Just then Jason surfaces right behind me, tapping my shoulder, and just about scaring me to death.

"Don't do that! How'd you find my tree!" I yell at him, swimming to the beach.

"I followed you," he says, taking an apple out of his pocket and taking a bite out of it.

"You little..." I mutter at him, drying myself off with the dry rag I keep under some rocks near here. Oh great, he cut my heel.

"Little what?" he asks.

"Nothing," I say mysteriously.

"Oh, okay, you did this to yourself," he splashes me with full force.

"You... I'll get you for this!" I say jokingly, splashing him three times for the one time he splashed me.

"Oh, you're on!" he yells, shoving my head under water.

He lets me back up a second later.

"Not cool," I say, snorting out salt water.

"Okay, I'm disqualified for using my domineering man strength against you," he says, putting his hands up.

"Good boy," I say patting his head.

I walk back to my towel and dry off, then notice Jason slipped away from me and shrug, I guess he had somewhere to go. Then I walk back to the huts and see Eli with my Dad setting up a make-shift garden and putting roots and greens in it.

"Good job," my dad says as Eli puts a bright green seed in the ground, "now we can get food." He leads Eli over to the huts and asks me to take him down to the water to wash off all the mud and yuck he's gotten into in the garden.

"Sure," I say, taking Eli's hand and leading him to the ocean.

I guide Eli down, at first holding his hand, but he eventually squirms his hand out of mine and starts barreling toward the beach.

A girl that looks to be about fifteen is washing her hair off in the water when Eli and I reach the edge of the beach.

"Hi," I venture.

"Oh," she stumbles backwards, not having noticed us, "Hello, I'm Courtney," she holds out her hand to me.

I lean over the water, wading in with Eli, and hold my hand out.

We shake for a strangely long time. She appears to be entranced with my face, so eventually I lean away and start to help Eli clean up.

"Do I... know you?" she asks me as if I should know her.

All the sudden her pale face, her perfect blond hair, the scar below her right eye, I do remember this girl... but from where?

"Where did you live before you came here?" I ask her.

"District twelve... You're Sophie that rebel face or whatever, but no... I know you from somewhere else..." she says.

"The necklace!" I yell, snapping my fingers.

"Oh yaa..." she says.

She's the girl who bought the necklace in town. Then Jason bribed her out of it with a hundred dollar bill.

I laugh, remembering how silly she looked running home, clutching the money, shrieking in delight.

"That was quite a day for me," she says.

Funny, that day I saw her as more of a woman, not a girl, when in reality she can't be more than sixteen.

"How old are you? I'm fourteen," I say.

"Fifteen," she answers, giggling, remembering the day she sold me the necklace. Her face hardens, "I remember watching your sister Maysilee in the games. I'm sorry about what happened to her," she says.

"Thank you, she was... stubborn. She had her mind made up to save Jason, so that's what she did," I say, reliving the nightmare.

"I have to go help my mother with the roof... that's her up there," she points to a woman with the same beautiful blond hair as her. She's putting up a roof over a small hut. She drops a piece of bamboo off the roof, and I see my dad go over to help her.

"She hasn't had puppy eyes like that since my dad died," Courtney says, watching them with me.

"That's my dad," I say quietly.

"I think they like each other," she says.

"Maybe," I say dismissing the thought, "Were you and your mother part of district thirteen?" I ask.

"No, we were from district twelve. But I helped to hide rebel plans from the guards... I was caught. They kept me and the other people involved in these disgusting gray cells. Then a while later I was sent here with my mother..."

"Oh, so that's why so many people are here. They aren't just from thirteen," I say.

I turn around to grab a towel for Eli.

"Here you go, let's get dry," I tell him.

"Sophie making mee dryyy," Eli runs out of the water toward the beach.

"He's cute," Courtney says, grabbing her towel and heading toward the huts.

"Thanks," I yell as she walks away.

I lead Eli back to our hut where my dad is cutting some plant up on the table in the corner.

"Hey, dad? Can you watch Eli? I'm gonna go find Jason and Peter," I ask, wiping my hands off on a rag.

"Ya, sure, go ahead. Be back before dark," he tells me.

"I always am," I say, walking off.

I walk along the shore for what feels like forever, knowing Jason and Peter probably went off in the jungle to find fruit or something.

I keep walking until the sun begins to set. I have to get back before my dad starts worrying...

When I get back my dad asks me how Peter and Jason were doing, but I never saw them.

"I never found them. Did they come back to the huts?" I ask.

"No, when Jason's mother asked me where he was, I said he was coming home with you." My father stops cutting fruit and looks right at me.

"Have you seen them today?" he asks.

"Ya, this morning, they were washing off in the water before breakfast. Then I came back here..." I say, equally puzzled.

"Is there any place they would go...?" he asks me.

"No, let me go over to Jason's hut. Maybe he got back and no one noticed," I say.

"Good idea," my dad says, throwing a stem of an apple in the little basket we use for garbage.

I wander through the camp until I come across Jason's mother talking with Courtney and some other men, women, and children.

"Has anyone seen them?" she asks everyone as I walk up to her.

She has a worried look on her face.

"Miss Woodland? Have you seen Jason or Peter? I couldn't find them earlier," I say, knowing the answer will be a big, fat no.

"Sweetie, I'm sure they'll turn up," she says, looking unsure of it herself.

"I know which beach they were on this morning. We could follow their tracks. Maybe they went into the jungle and got lost," I suggest.

"If they don't come back tonight, then yes, we'll go looking," Miss Woodland says, pushing at the younger boys and Sarah to go back in the hut and go to sleep.

"Mommy? Where did Jason go?" Sarah asks, clutching the doll she got when she moved into the new house in the victor's village.

"He went... on an adventure," she tells Sarah and then picks her up and carries her inside the hut.

"We should have three search parties, one goes along the beach, another into the jungle, and another the other way along the beach. We'll cover more ground that way. Sophie, you know where they were this morning?" Hagger asks me, motioning to the map someone made of the island estimating how large it is.

"Ya, I remember where we were. They probably went into the jungle if I had to guess," I say, trying to put myself in Jason's shoes, but wondering why he and Peter would all the sudden take off.

"All right, no one tell his mother, but let's start looking tonight," Hagger says, chewing on the tip of his pencil.

"You guys start here; the other group'll go this way. Sophie, are you up to coming with the third group into the jungle?" he asks me, "You'd know where they started," he finishes.

"Sure, let me tell my dad," I say, walking off.

After telling my dad I'm going out, and after many objections, I promise to be careful and to come home as soon as we find them.

"I'll be fine, Hagger'll be there the whole time," I say, trying to get him to stop worrying.

I join the group of three men and Hagger on the beach and guide them to the place Jason and Peter were washing off this morning.

"I found some tracks. They're big enough to be Peter's and Jason's, two sets!" one of the men in the group yells, examining the tracks leading into the jungle.

"All right, let's go!" Hagger yells to the rest of us.

We enter the big, dark, wet jungle and begin following the tracks.

"Soo… two sets of tracks," Hagger says, as if reminding himself.

After a while, the men find a spot where there appears to have been a struggle near an apple tree. A large rock lies on the ground next to it.

"What happened here?" Hagger says, looking at the torn up ground.

"Maybe someone encountered Peter? Someone he didn't like?" one man suggests.

"Or maybe they didn't like each other," Hagger says.

"So, there's two sets of tracks that went this way… They stopped here, and there's a rock and a scuffle." And then, I say, walking over to the larger tracks that lead into the jungle, "these look like Jason's."

I almost start crying right then and there. Why would Jason and Peter all the sudden start fighting in the middle of the jungle? I try to think about how Jason's track would look different than the tracks before me. Why would the winner drag the other off into the jungle? This can't be the answer... someone else did this. I mean, that can't be the answer. There aren't any drag marks... We follow another pair of tracks. This time my guess is that Jason made them, they're much larger.

After almost two hours of walking, stopping, and then walking some more, we come across something that makes my stomach drop.

"Was either of them wearing a shirt that had this on it?" A man from the group holds up a piece of cloth that was attached to a tree by a broken branch, probably ripped when it got caught. This is the same shirt fabric that Peter's shirt was made of... and on it there's a red streak of blood.

"Yes, that is... Peter's shirt," I say, looking at the cloth, stained bright red.

"Did they have any kind of argument this morning?" Hagger asks, tucking the cloth in his pocket.

"Not that I know about, they were... they acted like... They've never fought about anything before," I say.

We move on along following the footprints. Whoever made them was clearly not worried about covering them up. I keep thinking about how Jason's boots make the exact same imprint in the ground.

It would be completely pitch black if not for the flashlights and torches we brought, but the sun is beginning to rise a bit, though all you can currently see of it are bright rays of pink and orange coming over the horizon.

I'm exhausted, no longer able to stay awake. I move slowly along the jungle floor with the rest of the group. None of them even appear tired.

I shake my head to clear it, telling myself I have to stay awake whether I like it or not.

As we walk, I wonder why Freddy would have made such a difficult choice. Instead of just killing us, he left us to live on an island. It's true that we're probably millions of miles from any form of civilization. It feels like we're lost, but still people have been trying to convince others to build a raft.

All the people here were somehow related to the rebellion. Some of them were just people the Capitol wanted out of their way. There's this one man named Professor Simon, but everyone just calls him Simon. He tells us that he was an important part of the school in district three, and that he and a few others had been building up a rebel base there.

Some of the men here arrived in suits with clip-on ties that they were required to wear for whatever job they had while they lived in the Capitol.

As I think about these things, we spot a red and orange glow coming through the trees, with the hint of smoke looming in the air.

"When you wake up, you'll probably want to kill me. You know that, right?" I overhear Jason talking to someone, is he talking to Peter?!

"You guys go around that way," Hagger whispers to two of the men.

I follow Hagger and the other man. We spread out around the perimeter of the camp.

I spot Peter lying on the ground next to Jason. He's cut right where his shirt ripped and has a big red bump on his head.

I snap a twig, "Crap..." I think to myself.

"Whose there!?" Jason yells in the direction the twig snapped.

"Just me," I say, revealing myself to him, shooting a calm look at Hagger.

The men stay concealed in the bushes and trees around us while I try to form some sort of plan.

"What are you doing out here?" Jason asks.

"I could ask you the same thing," I say.

"This isn't what it looks like. I didn't do that to Peter," Jason says, trying to defend himself.

"Then who did?" I ask him, "and why is he gonna want to kill you when he wakes up?" I walk over to Peter and look at his head, a large bump on the top, but not much blood, so I stand back up and glare at Jason.

"Because he told me to go back to the beach and get help. A man, one who came from district four, I think, found Peter and me on the beach this morning. He told us he needed help getting apples off a tree he'd found earlier near the tree line," Jason tells me, "Then when we got there, he went up the tree and told Peter to stand underneath him and catch the apples he threw down," Jason stops to take a breath.

"What happened?" I ask.

"The man had a rock up in the tree. He tossed it down right at Peter, hit him in the head. Peter passed out. Then the man jumped off the tree, pinned me against the tree, and told me to get lost and take Peter, or he'd kill Peter. I don't know why, so don't ask," Jason finishes.

"So you ran off carrying Peter to protect him from that man? Someone said a man from district four didn't come back this morning after going to get fruit. His wife said she was positive he would come back. We didn't go after him because she told us she knew he'd come back," I tell Jason.

Jason stands there for a moment, thinking.

"Oh, and whoever Hagger brought with you guys can come out. I'm not stupid," Jason says.

Hagger and the other three men step out of the jungle.

"I never thought you were stupid. I just wanted to make sure you..." Hagger stops himself.

"Didn't kill Peter? Oh, that's fine, my friend Sophie here thought I killed him too," Jason says, slamming his fist into a tree trunk.

"Jason, I never thought you killed Peter. I was confused... I'm sorry. I never wanted to blame you," I say, trying to calm him down.

"Whatever, I'll be dead soon enough with that district four murderer after me," he says, throwing himself down onto the jungle floor in anger.

"Let's go back to the beach, please Jason," I beg him.

"I don't want him to hurt anyone else!" Jason seems confused at what he's saying.

"Come on, if we're on the beach, it's everyone against him. Out here, it's you and Peter against him, and that didn't work out so great this morning," I say.

"All right, fine," he says, standing up and walking in the direction of the beach with Peter slung over his shoulder.

Is it just me or is Jason angry at someone other than this creepy district four guy?

"There weren't any tracks from a third person anywhere near the tree line. Keep an eye on Jason," Hagger says, following Jason and the rest of the men.

I follow them. I don't know if I've ever been this tired in my entire life...

Eventually we make it back to beach as the bright yellow sun is just rising.

"I have to get some sleep," I say to Hagger as we get into the area we have our huts set up.

"Go for it. When Peter wakes up I'll let you know," Hagger says, following the rest of the men through the tangle of fire pits and huts.

I guess I found my way back to my hut, because when I wake up Eli is sitting next to me, patiently waiting for my eyelids to rise.

"Daddy daddy daddy!" he shrieks.

"What?" My dad's face appears in the doorway, "Oh, good morning Sophie," he says, reaching back outside to put the poker from our fire pit back on the sand.

"Hi, I thought Hagger said he would wake me when..." I sit up, rubbing my eyes, strangely enough, I'm no longer tired...

"What time is it...?" I say, walking out of the hut, looking up at the sun.

"About noon," my dad says, roasting something green over the fire.

"Oh, did Hagger come last night? He was supposed to tell me if Peter umm... woke up," I say, as nervous butterflies dance in my throat.

"I suppose he never woke up," my dad says, carefully arranging the green roasted things on a leaf and taking them inside to Eli.

I wander over to Peter's tent. Hagger and some man are arguing outside in front of the doorway rather loudly. They don't notice me, so I crouch behind some clothes hanging on a vine that was used as a drying rack.

"So in your opinion it doesn't matter?! There's a man out there, willing to kill any one of us!" Hagger whispers quite loudly to the man.

"I never said it didn't matter, but if we tell everyone about this, they'll all freak out," the man whispers sternly.

"Well, we have to tell them!" Hagger replies.

"Fine, you do it," the other man walks away.

"Did you hear?" Hagger asks as I reveal myself and walk toward the hut.

"If you mean the argument about whether to tell the rebel people about how there's an insane murderer out in the jungle trying to kill Peter and Jason and probably me next, then no," I say optimistically.

"So you did hear," Hagger says, flinging himself down on a log.

"What am I supposed to do? I can't even try to make friends with anyone, or Freddy and the others might trap me in a jet and fly me to the Capitol and send me into an arena as they try to kill me," I say.

"You know you can trust Peter, don't you? And Jason, me, your father... You're not the only one being targeted by all this," he replies.

"I trust Peter. I just... this is killing me. I wish I could go back in time and fix all of this, be at home helping Maysilee cleaning rabbits and squirrels! Not here on an island, banished forever from all of humanity!" I say.

I feel like I'm gonna cry, but I stop myself.

"You can go see him if you want," Hagger says with a sad look on his face. He walks away into the cluster of huts.

I walk into the hut, sit on the sand floor and start sobbing, really crying. My eyes become red and sore, so I eventually stop, catching my breath, wiping my face off on a piece of moss someone must've brought in here.

I'm still a complete mess when Peter's eyelashes flutter open.

"Peter," I say with a shaky voice.

"I saw this guy, the rock, he threw it on me, he... Wait, where's Jason, where is he? Is Jason okay?" Peter says with a hopeful voice.

"Ya, he's fine," I say, wiping my nose, "What'd the man look like?"

"Jason saw him. Why didn't you ask him?"

"Jason said he didn't see him," I say curiously.

"Oh, I thought he did, maybe he didn't. The man had a hood on, it fell off. His hair was blond, bright blond, kind of like Jason's. Jason asked me to help a man that was in the jungle with some apples. Jason stayed on the beach... Then a few minutes later, I found the man in the jungle, and he dropped that rock on me. I saw him, then all the sudden I was here. I guess I went out. He had a mustache that fell off. I guess it was fake. And... there was a..." he struggles to remember something, "A tattoo! He had a tattoo, it was a black rose... It was a dying rose... The rose was on his wrist," Peter says.

"You should get some rest, or at least change out of your dirty clothes," I say, grabbing his second pair of pants and shirt off the stool he has next to his cot.

I walk out of the hut toward the beach to wash all the sand off my knees.

As I approach the beach, I see Jason sitting by the water, watching the waves crash against the smooth sand next to the ocean.

"It was you, wasn't it? The one that dropped the rock on Peter, it was you," I say, sitting down next to him.

"Took you long enough," is all he says.

"Why? Why did you do that to him?" I say.

"He had a knife this morning, a real one, not a rock. When you guys were on the beach, it was tucked in his shorts. I grabbed it. He was furious, but since you were there... He waited until you left, then he jumped on me, tried to take the knife off me and kill me. Dumb kid, I'm twice his size.

I told him to get lost... I grabbed a hoodie, saw him going into the jungle, and... I was worried he was coming after you, so I went after him. I went into a tree near him and dropped a rock on him. Then I came and talked to you by the apple tree, so I could have an alibi in case someone blamed me...

But later, I realized when he went missing people were gonna ask questions. So I went out to the jungle and took him way back into the trees. I didn't think anyone would believe me if I told the truth, and I thought you'd bring Peter, who was trying to kill us all, back either way, so I made something up," Jason says.

"Why wouldn't you just tell us the truth?" I say.

"You would've still brought Peter back here," Jason says, looking out at the water.

"So there isn't anyone out there trying to kill us?" I ask to make sure we're still on the same page.

"Just Peter," Jason says.

"He's been lying this entire time?" I ask.

"I know, unbelievable," Jason says with real hurt in his voice.

"He was the only person I thought would really try to help me," I say.

"Oh, thanks, that makes me feel so loved," Jason says making a heart with his hands.

"Mmm, you're more like a semi-annoying older brother," I tease.

"Wonderful," he says, examining a seashell that washed up next to him.

"Nice rose," I say.

"Thanks," he says, rolling his sleeve down to cover it.

"Who do you trust?" I ask.

"You, Hagger, my family, and yours," he says.

"So should we tell Hagger everything?" I ask.

"Everything?" He says uncertain.

"Everything," I confirm.

We stay on the beach well past midnight, just sitting there watching the waves roll up onto the beach, then back into the light blue water.

Without saying a word, Jason gets up and starts toward Hagger's hut. I follow him through the twist of tents, huts, and fires until we reach a hut with only half a roof.

Hagger says he doesn't want a full roof, but we all know he's just too lazy to finish it.

"Hagger, come on, now," Jason whispers sternly into the hut.

"Whaa... Five more minutes... I don't want any pancakes, blueberry are yummier..." Hagger continues snoring until Jason nudges his arm with the toe of his boot.

"Wha! The third stove is burning!" Hagger says, waking himself with his own screaming.

"Would you shush!" I say, covering his mouth.

"Come on," Jason says, walking over to Peter's hut as Hagger and I follow him.

"All right, so what's all this about?" Hagger says, finally awake.

Jason passes Peter's hut and heads a few yards into the jungle.

"We have something to tell you," I turn to Hagger.

We tell him everything, from how Peter gained our trust, to how Jason was the one who threw that rock on him. We finish with Jason pulling a knife out of his belt and showing it to Hagger.

"So this is what he was going to try and kill you with this morning?" Hagger asks, obviously not impressed by the small knife.

"More deadly than it looks," Jason says, pulling the bottom of his shirt down to cover it, once again in his belt.

"That son of a... I can't believe that boy, he... He was so convincing," Hagger finishes, pounding his fist against a tree.

Before I'm aware of what's going through Hagger's mind, he's stomping through the sand and into Peter's hut.

Hagger grabs Peter by the arm and pins him to the wall.

"You tried to kill them?! You lied to every single one of us! I didn't know you could be such a good multi-tasker. You were gaining our trust and a good liar at the same time!" Hagger yells as Peter becomes fully alert, having been asleep moments ago.

"Hagger! Stop it!" I yell trying to shove him off of Peter.

"He tried to kill you! What's your problem!" Jason yells at me.

"Both of you, just go!" I yell at Hagger and Jason, closing the flap behind them.

I don't care if Peter's dangerous, I don't care if he wants to kill me, I'm going to yell at him whether I live through it or not. Although if worse comes to worse, I can easily out-run him.

"You liar, you lied to me for all this time," I say in a quiet voice to Peter.

"What can I say? I guess Freddy and I are more alike than not, we both do things that pay," he says angrily.

"So you were never really my friend. We survived in the arena. I FORCED Freddy to bring you here! And you still don't care about me, not at all. I'm just a stupid little girl who fell for your trick!" I yell.

"I wasn't pretending until Freddy came to me just before he shipped us here and told me if I'd kill you, then I could go home," he said. "I didn't want to, but my family is far more important than you in my book," he finishes, taking a breath.

"Well then, that just proves my point, you don't care about me enough to even tell me what's going on. You were just planning to shove a knife in my back!" I yell slamming my fist into his face.

I stumble backward for a moment, then rip open the tent flap and run to the beach, but I don't stop. I dive right into the ocean.

At first the water feels good. Nice and warm, just like the fancy bathtubs in Jason's house in the Victor's Village.

Then I feel myself being ripped from side to side, being pulled out deeper and deeper, until I can't see the bottom anymore.

I'm so mad at Peter that I try to just swim back to shore, but the tide is fighting against me. I keep kicking my feet until they feel like noodles, but eventually I realize the water is ten times stronger than me and give up.

Maybe if I swim to the side? I could swim down the beach and get away from the rip-tide... I think to myself.

But my arms and legs are so tired, and I can barely see shore... then the waves start coming in. They're ginormous. Huge waves crash onto my head, pushing me underwater. Every few seconds I get a small window to take a quick breath before another wave comes crashing down.

I swallow so much salt water that I start coughing into the water.

I keep fighting against the waves. Then for a moment everything is fine, the water is clear, I come up for a breath.

But only then do I see the huge, terribly tall monster wave building up.

I start paddling away, but it's no use. It's already coming down.

I'm shoved so far down that when I try to get a breath, I can barely tell which way is up and which way is down.

My chest gets tight. I start seeing little black spots... Then I see a tan, white figure above me.

There are hands around mine leading me in the direction I thought was the bottom of the ocean.

After swimming for a long time, having not breathed in air for almost a full minute, whoever came down after me surfaced and lifted me into the night air.

"Sophie, what were you doing! Are you crazy! Didn't anyone tell you no one can swim out here today? There's some sort of rip-tide... I don't know. I'm no water scientist," Jason says, laughing a little.

By now the water's dying down and becoming still once more.

"Crap, I pick the worst times to swim. The first time, there was a lightning storm that somehow, NO ONE MENTIONED to me!" I say, paddling slowly back to shore.

Finally I can once again feel the ocean floor and all the little seashells underneath my toes.

"So what happened to Peter's face?" he asks.

"How do you know about that...?" I say.

"Was it a secret? I personally wish you would've done it sooner," he tells me.

I laugh a little. "Well next time I promise to leave it to you," I say, realizing how tired my arms and legs are.

"I'm looking forward to it already," he teases, punching the air.

"I'll see you in the morning," I say, heading back to my family's hut.

"See ya," he says, heading back to his own.

I wake up in the morning and a chorus of complaints from my arms and legs are begging me to go back to sleep.

I slap my arm.

"Wake up!" I yell at my arm. Dumb arm...

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Courtney says, walking into the hut with her hands above her head.

"Put um' where I can see um'!" I say, pretending to use my fingers as a gun.

We both laugh.

"So, what happened to your friend's face?" she asks.

How in the world does everyone know about that?! "Huh?" I say, playing stupid.

"Peter... The guy that is trying to kill you... and your friend, what's his name? Oh ya, Jason," she says.

"How do you know that?!" I ask her, amazed at the fact that she knows this.

"Well, Peter's in a tent chained to a cement post with a pair of handcuffs some guy stole from a guard before he came here," she says.

"Oh, well how do you know about it...?" I still don't understand how she could know about it.

"I have a hut right next to his. It's pretty hard not to hear the chains while he pounds them against his wooden chair all night long trying to break them," she says yawning.

"I could help you build a hut near mine. Sorry he's keeping you up," I say.

"Not your fault," she says, dismissing it. "That sounds cool. I've never had a friend that was my age and a girl. I had a lot of friends that were boys, but I've never really hung out with girls. Ya, sure, I'd love to build a hut over here," she finishes.

"You want some fish?" I ask her, smelling the fish my dad is cooking out on the fire.

"My mom's already here, she's cooking with him!" she says, whispering. "They've been together all morning! What if they get married?! Then we'll be sisters!" she shrieks.

I laugh, "I've never had a friend who was a girl either, always boys. Maybe that's because I never had any interest in make-up, clothes, or anything girls talk about," I tell her.

"Oh my gosh! You were the um... The girl who always played on the boys' soccer team in second grade," she says, remembering.

My cheeks become bright red remembering how the other girls would laugh at me for being so athletic and wanting to hang out with boys instead of them.

"I never really had an interest in boys, just the games they played. Once third grade ended, the boys kinda... forgot I existed and stopped inviting me to play soccer after school," I say, remembering how left-out I had felt when they had forgotten all about the girl who was better than at least HALF of the team.

"Mmhmm, suuurrreeee," she says sarcastically.

"I didn't! Not in elementary school!" I say laughing.

"Okay, sure. Whatever you say!" she says, still not convinced.

I roll my eyes jokingly. We walk out of the hut into the damp morning air.

"I have to go, but I'll be back later," I say. "Could you tell my dad if he asks? I think he's preoccupied at the moment," I finish, motioning to my father, who's laughing along with Courtney's mother.

"Okay, see ya later," she says, folding up a sheet that had been hanging up to dry.


	9. Chapter 9

I wander around the huts for a while. But eventually I realize I'm doing circles around Peter's hut.

I peer into the hut and see Peter sitting on the ground with the chains around his hands. He has some sort of little wooden pole in his left hand that he appears to be trying to pick open the handcuffs with.

"You know Hagger's only gonna make them tighter if you do that," I say, not revealing myself. But I can guess that he knows it's me.

"You still scared of me?" he says as he continues picking at the lock.

"I was never scared of you," I say dismissively, proving it by flinging open the flap and standing inches away from him.

"Ya, okay, sure," he says, obviously remembering how I stumbled away from him the last time I saw him.

"You've never given me a reason to be afraid of you until you tried to killed Jason with that knife," I say.

I hear Hagger moving boxes around outside of the hut. He's coming in to check on Peter. I realize how bad still talking to Peter could make me look after all of this, as well as being in the same room as him.

I duck behind his towels, which are hanging against the wall.

Hagger opens Peter's hut's flap, and I hear the sound of metal clanking against the sandy dirt floor.

I peer out from behind the towels and see a small metal plate with a piece of bread that appears to have gone stale days ago along with a few apple slices.

"I'm not going to pretend you're not here, Sophie," Peter says grabbing an apple slice and popping it into his mouth.

"I never expected you to..." I say, throwing one of the towels down onto the ground and then walking out of the hut while Hagger throws me questioning looks.

I stomp down to the beach furiously.

As I near the ocean I catch a glimpse of a big gray and blue blob far out in the waves, miles from shore. It's a whale. I almost smile, then remind myself I'm mad at Peter and throw myself down on the sand.

"Stop expecting him to go back to being 'Nice Peter.' He's never going to be 'Nice Peter' again. It was an act," Hagger says, coming up behind me and sitting down on the sand.

"I don't care," I say, staring at the beautiful white belly of the whale as he rolls over with the morning sun making him look as if he's glowing.

"I...," Hagger says as if he's about to start a long, important speech.

"Hagger, don't. I know he's not 'Nice Peter.' I know he's never going to be on our side, whatever that means. I know all that. But all those chains are doing is making it worse. Are you really prepared to kill him? Because it's either kill him or let him live in that hut with those chains for the rest of his life. We have to stop being afraid of him. He's stuck here, just like the rest of us. So why can't we just take our chances and let him go? If he wants to wander off into the jungle, then let him. But he should be given the opportunity to do something other than be chained to the ground for the rest of his life," I say, standing up. I shake the sand off the back of my legs and walk back to the huts.

"He probably has more knives hidden somewhere," Hagger says.

I walk off ignoring him, trying to find some way to fix this.

I go over to my hut and find Courtney sitting with Eli, weaving pieces of long grass together to make a little man holding a grass hammer.

"This is... Carson the Construction man," she says, handing Eli the toy.

"Carbon the conmunction man!" Eli shrieks, running around the hut making Carson the construction man climb the wall.

"Close enough," Courtney shrugs, turning around, noticing me in the doorway.

"Hi," I say.

"Hey. Your dad and my mom kinda went to go fix our roof. He asked me to watch your brother. He's so sweet, I've always wished I had a younger brother or sister," she says.

"It isn't all fun and games. When he was born, the first thing I got to do for him was change his diaper. Sure, that was fun the first time, but after that..." I pretend to shiver at the memory.

Courtney laughs. Her laugh is so pretty I think to myself. Sometimes I wonder if when she was in school if she was that kid that everyone wanted to know. The one that everyone fought to partner up with for class assignments. The person that always got chosen first for sports games just because she was popular.

"Oh! Speaking of diaper changes!" I say, pinching my nose.

"Gross!" she says, waving her hand in front of her nose.

I grab Eli and change his diaper, tossing the old one in the waste basket and wrapping it in moss to dispose of in the jungle.

"You're a natural," Courtney teases.

"Lots of practice," I say laughing.

I put Eli back on the sandy ground and hand him back his "Carbon the conmunction man" toy.

"He should probably take a nap before it gets too late. Otherwise he won't sleep through the night," I say grabbing his blanket from the ground and shaking all the sand off.

"Ok, I'll go see if they need some help with the roof," she says, letting the hut flap fall back into its place as she walks away into the camp.

"Come on Eli, time to take a nappie," I say, laying the blanket out on the ground to sit on top of since the tropical heat from the island really makes it too hot to be underneath a blanket.

"Play morrree!" he says, jumping off the blanket.

"Eli. Nap. Now," I say.

He hurries back next to me on the blanket and shuts his eyes.

His head leans onto my lap, and he drifts off to sleep.

"Sweet dreams Eli," I say kissing his head.

I wake up to the sound of a fish slapping against the table in our hut.

"Sorry, I was trying to be quiet," Jason says, scooting the fish to the center of the table.

"It's fine, I didn't mean to fall asleep in the first place," I say.

Eli's hand reaches out to find me, and he realizes I've stood up. His eyes open in alarm.

"Sophieee..." he says sleepily.

"Did he have a nap?" My dad asks walking in from the fire-pit.

"Ya," I say, wrapping some towels up in a big bunch and placing them in the corner of the hut.

Jason walks out of the hut and I follow him.

"You aren't here because of fish are you?" I say following him along the beach.

"Maybe not... Hagger said-" he begins.

"I don't need a babysitter! I can take care of Peter on my own! I don't need you or Hagger's help!" I say, quickening my pace.

I notice we're near the large tree where I used to come for apples, and I grab hold of the trunk and begin to climb.

"Sophie, I never said you needed a babysitter! Hagger was worried about you! I wasn't going to- I didn't mean to act like I was in charge of you," he says following me up the tree.

He wobbles a bit when we get to the short, thin branches, but he keeps following me.

"Leave me alone," I say, expecting him to climb back down to the bottom.

"Do you really want that?" he asks.

"Yes, now leave me alone!" I say again going higher.

"Okay..." he says jumping off the tree into the water below.

Not that I care, but I notice that his head doesn't pop up for a while. Then almost a minute passes. I can't stand it anymore and jump down after him.

As soon as I surface, Jason's head comes up after me.

"You... You tricked me! You held your breath just so I would come down!" I scream at him over the sound of water rolling onto the beach.

"It appears I did," he answers with a huge grin on his face.

I glare back at him angrily.

I swim back to shore and run back to the huts, slowing to a walk once I get near enough that I'm bumping into people.

I walk right up to Hagger's hut and rip open the flap to find him napping.

"Hagger! Wake up!" I yell.

"Wha- It's time to eat some pie...I wanted the last pee-piece!" he says as he wakes up.

"Where's the key," I say.

"The key to what!" he says, rubbing his eyes.

"The key to Peter's handcuffs! Where is it!" I yell, looking through his clothes.

"Why do you want it!" he yells back, standing up.

"He's not your problem! He's mine!" I hiss.

After looking at me a long time, Hagger leaves his hut and walks over to Peter's. I follow him as he enters the hut, reaching into his pocket and unlocking the handcuffs with a key.

"There! But when he attacks you and Jason again, it ain't my fault!" he says, "And someone other than you and Jason has to be ummm... guarding him, ya, guarding him at all times," he says, still half asleep.

I'm somewhere between confused and overjoyed because Hagger has finally done what I've been asking for since he put Peter in those terrible metal claws.

"I'll watch him first... Sophie. Be a dear and tell Jason, your friend is free, will you?" he says, taking a sip of water from his bottle.

Peter looks just as confused and overjoyed as I am, but still not like he used to. There's a kind of hateful look in his eyes that he was hiding all this time that I fear will never go away.

I leave the hut, trying to decide what I'm supposed to do next.

I'm still mad at Jason. He can find out about Peter later.

I don't know what to do, and my thoughts become jumbled as I walk off into the jungle for a reason I can't quite think of. I keep walking off in different directions, trying to go back..? No, I'm not trying to go back.. I'm trying to... to... I don't know where I'm going, but as it grows darker, I keep moving forward.

All the sudden, I jolt backwards as if on cue. There's a pinching feeling on my foot, but when I rip my sock off I find nothing except the mark the nail on that stinger house left... when I was in the arena... I try to tell myself to turn around, but when I do, I'm in an unfamiliar place. Then I feel a burning sensation on my back and turn to see a volcano. When I step forward, it's no longer there.

My thoughts keep blurring in and out of reality as I see Crystal fall into a dent with lava in the bottom. I reach forward to catch her.

I watch as she mouths the words I hadn't caught the first time and realize what she had said.

"Don't trust them," I hear her voice repeating inside my head.

It feels like I listen to the words for hours, when in reality they only repeat for a few minutes as I digest what she was trying to communicate to me.

Don't trust who!?

"Don't trust who!?" I yell to the trees around me.

I crawl over to a tree trunk and run my finger along the rough bark.

Before I know it, I'm up on a branch almost twenty feet in the air.

I watch as Crystal leaps from branch to branch, leaving me behind in the jungle. I leap forward to follow her, only to find no branch below me.

I fall for just a second, but it's long enough to realize that branch was more than just twenty feet up, it was more like twenty-six.

I hit the ground with the back of my heel and fall backward onto the ground.

The plants around me rotate until I feel like I'm gonna throw up. Then I squeeze my eyes shut. My back feels crushed, my feet are tingling... I don't try to move. I squeeze my eyes shut tighter.

I wake up to the smell of burning leaves, but when I open my eyes, there's just darkness. I can't see a thing. I move my head to the side. Eventually I can see, but...it's blurry.

"Morning," a voice says. I know the person, but I still can't think clearly as I try desperately to focus on the face.

There's the sound of sparks flying around a crackling fire, but I can't see it.

My eyes go in and out of focus as I try to sit up, but I'm pushed back down by a pair of hands.

"Sophie, stay down. It's okay, just me," The voice says again.

Who's me?! I try to form words, but am only answered by silence. I'm finally able to focus on a leaf, though it's blurry.

"Who is me...?" I say, hoping that whoever is here is listening, because I question my ability to speak again.

"Sophie, just stay here." The voice fades as the person stands up and walks away into the jungle.

I fall back to sleep and wake again to the blurry face, though this time I can make out a few details... The person has a brown shirt on, or maybe it's a white shirt that's muddy...

"Who's me?" I ask again.

"It's Jason, Sophie, can you hear me?" he says.

I hear him talking, but once again I fall to sleep not knowing what's going on. I'm more confused than ever.

I see a golden horn. The cornucopia. There's a bow sitting there. It's the only weapon.

Then Maysilee walks forward, leaving me on the silver plate where I was lifted into the arena. She picks up the bow and shoots at something in the woods. Then she takes a knife that I didn't know she had and stabs herself.

I watch as she falls to the ground.

When I'm awake, I can't stop seeing scenes from what was obviously a nightmare.

I start crawling backwards, making a sound that could be considered screaming or crying. Maybe it's a little bit in the middle.

"Sophie, what's wrong? It's okay, you're fine. Sophie! Stop!" Jason grabs my shoulders and makes me stop moving backwards.

"Maysilee... Where is she...? I saw her! She killed herself for you! I trusted you... You were supposed to bring her back!" I yell, not really knowing what I'm saying until the words are out of my mouth.

His grip lessens and I stand. I run backwards, trying to figure out why, after all this time of not thinking about Maysilee, thoughts of her would come back now. "She's not here!" I tell myself. I hear Jason yelling at me as I run, but I keep going. I'm confused, I'm tired, and my legs are gonna give out any second.

I find a tree. I climb higher with every breath that comes out of me. Jason reaches the bottom of my tree and starts up after me.

"Sophie! What the... What are you doing!?" he yells, trying to get me to answer.

"I saw Maysilee," I whisper to myself, though Jason doesn't hear me.

The dream felt so... so real.

I know I didn't really see her, but I thought I did. I thought it was real. I wanted it to be real.

I keep climbing, higher and higher. The trees in the jungle have rubbery limbs that swoosh back every so often for no reason.

As I reach the top of the tree, I climb up to the canopy of leaves and branches and look down to see how close behind me Jason is.

"Sophie! Come on! Get down! What's the matter with you! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" he yells from about 10 yards below me.

I leap to a tree that's top is 4 yards below my current tree. I ascend to the ground, leaving Jason to wonder where I went while he's still up in the other, taller tree.

I wonder what I came into this jungle for. Not to climb trees, not to make Jason come after me, and not to fall out of that tree. I came because I was looking for someone who is no longer available, completely out of reach forever, someone who no matter what I do, I will never see again. My sister is gone.

I wander back in the direction I believe the beach is, letting Jason stay where he is. It was his decision to come after me. I didn't ask him to protect me.

As the sun sets, the trees disappear behind me revealing a large expanse of tan, rough, hot pieces of sand, millions of tiny pieces expanding toward the water.

As I leave the jungle behind, my eyes make out a shape, someone lying out on the sand near the ocean. Not quite lying, more like sitting.

He sits against a large rock that looks as if it's been there longer than I've been alive.

Peter turns around to the sound of me coming up behind him.

"Why don't you just kill me?" I ask him flatly.

"Because here there's no reason to," he says, "When we first got here, I thought that I would be able to escape this island if I did what the president wanted, I thought he'd let me leave, but now I _know_ I'm stuck here with the rest of you," he replies.

"I don't trust you anymore," I tell him.

"Now there's a shock!" he says, throwing his arms in the air.

I walk back to the huts, ignoring the comments about where I've been from my father. I enter the hut I've shared with my brother and father for the past week or so and throw myself down on a cot.

I fall into a dreamless sleep.

When my eyelids flutter open, I see a figure at the other side of the hut, leaning over the table cutting something with a knife.

My senses immediately dart to the delicious smelling fish sitting on a plate next to my cot and grab it. I haven't had a thing to eat for almost a full 24 hours, and I'm starving.

The figure turns around at the noise of me sitting up, and I see his face, tired, worried, and... am I seeing things or does he look semi-annoyed?

"Hi," I say to my dad.

"Hi yourself, where did you go yesterday?" he asks, handing me half a coconut filled with water.

I drink thirstily and try to think of a reasonable excuse for disappearing.

"I um... I was-" I stumble on my own words. "Hagger let me undo the handcuffs..." I say instead.

"He what!?" my father yells, "Why?!" he yells again, openly showing his distrust of Peter.

"Peter isn't going to do anything! He's stuck here with the rest of us whether the rest of you like it or not!" I yell back, letting the plate and coconut slide off my lap and onto the sand floor of our hut. I stomp outside onto the beach.

I mutter terrible things about my father and his opinions of Peter under my breath as I scrub my shirt off in the water, removing the layer of dirt and grass that has settled on the back of it.

"Bad day?" Courtney asks, coming up behind me.

"You could say that," I say.

"Do you know where Jason is? His mother said he went out to find you," she says.

"Why would I care? I never asked him to protect me," I snap back at her angrily.

Real hurt registers on her face, but it's then replaced by anger.

"You should care because he went out to find you! He could've sat around! He cares about you... If I was lucky enough to have someone like that I would care whether they went out into the jungle to find me!" she snaps back, then walks toward the huts.

"Fine," I say to myself. "I will, I'll show her. I'll find him."

I walk to the tree line, pondering whether or not to go in or not.

"Go, you idiot!" I snap at myself.

I wander back to the tree where I fled from Jason and find nothing but the coals from the fire he built when he found me.

Where are you? I wonder how lost he could've gotten...

He's been in woods since he could crawl I remind myself, walking along a nearby river that goes up a large hill.

He would've stayed near a water source, right?

I slump to the ground in defeat. I can't track people. I can't find him. I might as well go back.

As I'm making the assumption that he must've gotten back to the huts by now and turning around, I hear footsteps coming up behind me.

I grab the trunk of a nearby tree and conceal myself in the leaves.

As they approach I realize there's more than one person among the group. It isn't Jason... Then who is it?

"Fine, we torch the camp. But you gotta give me a few days to get Sophie out," Peter says. Peter?!

"Aight', but I swear if you tell her our plan, I'll kill you boy," A man tells him, swinging a knife around in his hand.

"I'll make something up... What about the other one? Jason?" Peter replies to the men.

"We got him back at camp. Randy found him spying on us yesterday," a large man answers.

"There's a small problem with getting Sophie out before we torch the place, sir." A smaller man approaches the men.

As they lower their guns realizing that it's one of their friends, angry expressions grow on their faces.

"What problem would that be?" The large man asks the small man.

"She's gone, left earlier today. I believe sir that she came out into the jungle to find Jason," the small man says, pushing his glasses back onto his nose.

"Maybe Jason knows where she is," The large man grows a grin on his face.

"No," Peter says. "We're not torturing anyone."

"This is war. The president says we can do what we have to," the large man says indifferently.

"No, I'll take care of getting Sophie. I know where she is," Peter says, his hands shake nervously at his sides.

Peter's lying. I know him too well not to miss the nervous shake of his hands, the terrified look in his eyes.

"Fine, but if she ain't here before tomorrow morning, I'm sending in the torches whether she's outta there or not," the large man says, continuing on through the jungle with the rest of his men following.

Peter leans down onto his knee to tie his shoelace.

"I see you," he whispers to me.

"What are they talking about? What do they mean they "have" Jason. Where is he, you little-?" I stop myself and glare at him through the leaves.

"Follow me back to their camp. I'll leave the gate open for the next twenty minutes. That's your window. Jason's in the tent in the back right corner. I'll distract the guards as long as I can. Get yourselves out of there and back to the huts to warn the rest of them. Take everyone to the north shore. There's a large freighter there where these men take supplies back and forth from the mainland to the island. There are normally four guards with guns protecting the boat. I'll meet you there tomorrow at dawn. Dig a foot underneath my cot back at camp. There are seven guns underneath a green tarp. Make sure Victoria makes it back. She's the only person I know of with any experience with boats. I know how to auto pilot it if I have to, but it's risky," he says, standing up and running to catch up with the rest of his posse.

As I leap from branches and grab onto vines high up in the rubbery trees of the jungle, I ask myself whether this is a trap. Peter has every reason to be against us, but somehow I know he isn't lying. If he were lying to me, I would've known... I think.

I jump through the trees a safe distance behind the men, and they reach a tall fence with a large metal gate. Barbed wire protrudes from their tops, which are almost thirty feet in the air.

"Who are these people?" I wonder to myself.

I feel my belt and gratefully realize my pocket knife is still hanging on it. It's not much, but if worse comes to worse, I can at least defend myself.

Following Peter's instructions, I work my way inside the gate to the back right corner of the camp. I see a bright green tent with three guards in-front of it.

Just then, Peter wanders over to the tent and starts up a conversation with one of them.

Then he makes a gesture toward the front gate and says something to the other two guards that make them jump up.

Peter leads them the other away into another tent.

There's my chance. I think to myself whether this is a trap or not, but I'm already here so I might as well find out.

I cut out a small hole in the back of the tent and rip it open.

As I lean through the rip in the tent, I see Jason tied up in the corner trying to bite through the ropes.

"Sophie!" Jason says when he sees me.

"Shut up!" I hiss at him. "Come on, we gotta get out of here," I whisper to him as I cut through the ropes.

When he lifts his head out of the tent, I notice a streak of blood running from the bottom of his lip to his chin.

"What happened?" I ask as we sneak along the fence.

"Apparently my new friends don't like me," he says.

We slip out of the opened gate and sprint away from it through the trees. We keep sprinting through the underbrush until we reach the beach, and then we stop to catch our breaths.

"Why'd you come back?" he asks.

"I should never have left you out here. You were only trying to help. I'm sorry," I say, breathing heavily.

"Don't worry about it," he says. "Let's get back to the huts."

As we walk along the beach on the way back to the huts, I tell Jason about how they plan to torch the camp and how Peter isn't actually evil and that he's a spy.

"If he's a spy, then why'd he do this?" Jason asks, motioning to his lip, which has turned a brilliant shade of purple-blue.

"I don't know. Maybe he was just trying to prove that he was on their side so that they would trust him," I suggest.

"Stop covering for him!" Jason says. "That guy is bad news,"

"Either way, he warned us about those guys torching the camp. That's gotta count for something," I say.

"Fine, we'll take the freighter off this rock. But we're not taking him," Jason says.

"Yes we are. He knows how to auto-pilot it... Just in case something happens to Victoria," I tell him.

"Fine, but, if we ever get back to mainland, I'll kill him," Jason says, quickening his pace.

I guess I just won't let that happen I think to myself.

As we walk along the beach I tell Jason about the guns Peter told me are hidden underneath the green tarp beneath his cot.

"Where'd he get those from?" Jason asks.

"Probably from your new friends," I say, mimicking what Jason said earlier.

He laughs, "All right, wait a second. Stop," he says, sitting on the sand, "Let's take a break."

"Peter's not against us. I need you to believe that," I tell him.

"Why would I believe that? Give me one good reason," he replies.

"Because I'm begging you. Please. If you don't believe me... No one will," I say.

"Fine, but I sure hope you're right. If you're not, then you can kiss going home goodbye," he says standing up.

What is he referring to as _home?_ District 12? Oh please, that's the place where we're ruled by dictators and treated like we're nothing more than dirt. I'd rather be lost like I am, than home under President Vincent's rule again.

Jason offers his hand to me and helps me up off the warm sand.

We continue along the beach for what seems like an eternity.

Then we see smoke high above the trees, and then we see the little brown huts pop up around campfires.

"Jason!" His mother yells from the front of the hut, running towards us.

She wraps her arms around his neck and doesn't let go for a long time, but when she does the first thing she does is lick her finger, then wipe the blood off his chin.

Surprisingly enough, the arms that wrap themselves around me do not belong to my father. Hagger whispers something in my ear.

"Wait until it's dark, then tell me what happened. I'll be in my hut," he says, then lets me go.

My father comes up behind him and puts his arm around me, leading me back to our hut.

At around midnight, hours after the bright sun sets and the moon comes out to greet the night, I wander over to Hagger's hut as he instructed me to earlier.

"There were big fences with barbed wire and Peter was there. He told Sophie where the boat was-" Jason is already there telling Hagger everything as I walk in silently.

"What do you think?" I ask.

"About Peter not being evil or the magical freighter that's going to rescue all of us?" Hagger says.

"All of it," I say.

"Where are the guns?" he asks.

"In Peter's hut, under his cot," I answer.

We all go over to Peter's hut and pick his bed up, revealing the sand below it. Then we dig with our hands until I feel a tarp.

I grab it with the tips of my fingers and lift it out of the sand, revealing a case with a broken lock on it.

I lift the lid and reveal to myself, Hagger, and Jason an assortment of guns and boxes of bullets.

Hagger grabs the deadliest looking gun and starts filling it with bullets, then aims the gun at the wall of the hut and shoots a blank. It makes a snapping sound that makes me want to cover my ears.

"Hagger! What are you doing! No one knows these exist yet," I say shoving things back in the case before anyone sees them.

"We're going to have to tell them eventually," he says.

"Fine, you tell them," I say.

The next few hours go by in blur. As people awake to the sound of Hagger shooting off blanks, he fills them in on our plan.


	10. Chapter 10

Everyone starts packing up the necessities, and within four hours we're all moving along the beach to meet Peter at the boat at dawn.

The sun begins rising just as we're arriving at the dock.

Sixty percent of the group (mostly women and children) are staying in the trees to hide until we've created a safe passage onto the boat.

I'll be joining the second group who runs to the boat while the first group tries to capture the guards and covers us from gun fire.

Hagger and three other men position themselves to snipe the guards who are blocking the ship, but the problem is, as soon as one of them pulls the trigger, all the guards will know we're there, so there will be no turning back. They all will be shooting at the same time.

Two of them, one being Hagger, get a direct hit on two of the guards, but the other two snipers miss terribly.

A large guard with a small gun begins rapidly firing at the trees where one of the men who missed his shot from is now crouching behind a broken log refilling his gun.

Another guard, who's a bit smaller than the first one, starts toward the boat, knowing that's where we plan to go.

A loud noise blasts from behind me, and I turn to find Peter standing there with a gun, shooting at the smaller guard as he steps onto the dock. Peter nails him, and the guard falls off the dock into the light-blue water.

"Fancy seeing you here," I say as I run up the beach and onto the dock.

Jason, Hagger, and most of the other men from the group are in-front of us shooting at a man who obviously has some sort of bullet-proof armor. He has remained on the beach, to keep the high ground, I assume.

He continues shooting very precisely at the group, and after taking out two men and badly injuring another's leg, he's shot in the right arm. Being forced to use his left arm to shoot, he starts backing up from us, becoming afraid. His aim is also much worse since he appears to be a right-handed shooter.

"Get onto the boat! Now!" Hagger yells to the group.

The women and children start running to the boat behind the safety of the others and file into the bottom deck of the ship.

My father pushes at me from behind to get onto the boat, and I do. As I do, I hear a gunshot and try to look back to see what happened, but then my father pushes at me even harder. Eli is safely taken onto the boat by Courtney's mother. Jason's mother and his sister and brothers all made it onto the ship unharmed along with everyone else who had been hidden in the jungle.

I can see only a glimpse of the men that are still outside the boat from a small window. I'm pushed past as everyone files down the stairs to the bottom of the boat.

Victoria, knowing what she has to do, grabs the controls on the main deck of the ship and fires the engines up.

I peer out a window on the deck as I flip different switches and levers for Victoria and see the man who Hagger shot in the arm fall to the ground. Hagger and the rest of the men begin filing onto the ship. Out of the seven men who had guns, two of them were killed and one of them is injured. The rest are fine. As they enter the ship's door, I count how many come in.

One... Two... Where's Jason? Wait, where's Hagger?

Hagger comes onto the ship with the man who was shot in the leg leaning on his shoulder. Hagger then turns around and slams the door to the boat shut and bolts the lock.

"We'll be clear to leave in a minute, is everyone here?" Victoria turns to me.

"Jason is still out there!" I yell, pushing past the men who are entering the boat.

Hagger grabs the back of my shirt and pulls me back on the ship.

"Yea, we're all here," Hagger tells Victoria.

"Where is he?" I yell, banging against the door.

"Sophie, go back to the bottom deck," Hagger says grabbing my arms.

I kick the door and scream for him to let me go until he picks me up and carries me down to the bottom deck and forces me against the wall.

"He's not coming," Hagger says forcefully, then leaves me to help Victoria.

I push past Hagger and Victoria to get to the windows at the front of the boat. As we turn toward the open ocean, I catch a glimpse of the two men who were shot, being pushed by the waves back toward the shore. Then I see that there's still shooting going on. Jason is crouched behind a large canister of something that looks like explosives. Now I know why he stayed.

As the large men approach his hiding place at the end of the dock, I yell for Victoria to turn back. Then I see Jason loading his gun. He positions it toward the canister. A second later the dock is gone along with everyone who was on it. A big burst of yellow and red light explodes across the water and rocks the boat. Large waves come from the sides of what was once the dock. Now all I see is driftwood... I don't see Jason. The ship continues to turn until the island is out of view.

My hand freezes against the window; my eyes are locked on the image of the dock exploding, knowing what just happened, but wishing I didn't.

Peter, who was already hiding on the bottom deck before I came down, has heard the explosion. He knows what happened. He grabs my shoulder and forces me to sit as the ship begins moving out into the ocean.

He's not coming... The words bounce around my head for hours as we travel along the ocean. Jason... isn't coming. Tears pour from my eyes as I try to erase the image of the exploding dock from my mind.

For a full day we sit silently in the large freighter. Peter doesn't leave my side. At the end of day one when most of the people down in the bottom deck are falling to sleep, I rest my head on his shoulder and fall asleep.

In a dream I see Jason coming onto the ship with me. We sit down on the ground where Peter and I are, and I stare at him. Something is wrong with him. The face I see doesn't belong to him. I open my eyes to find Peter's finger brushing the loose hair away from my eyes. I grab his shirt and finally come to the conclusion that my dream was not real. Jason isn't here.

"Good morning to you too," Peter says, slowly taking my fingers off his shirt's fabric.

There are dark bags underneath his eyes, and I can tell he hasn't slept since the ship left the island.

"Get some rest. You don't have to watch me," I say.

"Wake me up in a few hours..." he says drifting off to sleep.

In a few days we finally reach land. When we get off the boat, there's a large blimp waiting for us on shore.

"Victoria! You made it!" A girl from the blimp yells, running toward us.

"I promised I would," Victoria answers giving her a friendly squeeze, then the girl begins showing all of us the seats and how we should buckle ourselves in on the blimp.

"He said he would kill you if we ever got back to mainland," I say to Peter as we get buckled.

"I know," is all he says.

When Victoria leaves the room with the girl to help pilot the blimp, I start wondering where we're going. But at this point, as long as it's a safe place away from the president, I couldn't care less.

"Hello!" A loud voice booms over the speakers on the walls, "We've begun our roundabout journey to district thirteen! When we get there, it is very important that we all descend underground into our new facility immediately."

The voice cuts out, and we're left in silence. Then people once again begin talking about where we're going and how so and so is afraid of heights, and about how so and so is afraid of being buried alive.


	11. Chapter 11: Epilogue

**Epilogue**

For the next few months I ask no questions. I do what people tell me, and I don't bother finding out why the Capitol has allowed people to live in District thirteen - undisturbed and in peace. I don't care about the answers. I don't need to be in control anymore. The only person I had left who remotely understood me was Jason, and he's gone.

Sure, there's Peter, but the second we went underground, he decided to become a loner. He sleeps in his own dug-out room, and like me, doesn't ask questions, or care about the answers. He is so far gone in his own little world of confusion and so worried that people do not trust him, he doesn't need to be fought by me or anyone else.

I sleep in my cot, in a dirt room off the main corridor with Courtney, her mother, my father, and Eli. I eat the food people give me. Everyone gets equal rations. Some people may think I would become lonely or confused not knowing what's going on, but now that I have nothing to worry about, I feel freer than I ever did when I wanted nothing more than to destroy the Capitol.

Eventually it will fall, just like every other dictatorship ever created. I can now say with certainty that I have no strings attached to anyone but my family. My father has found happiness with Courtney's mother and Courtney, and Eli adores Courtney. So now I guess, if I fell off the face of the earth, they'd be just fine.

As I pick up my blanket to shake off the dirt, a book falls out of it and onto the ground. It falls open to the one page that I wish it hadn't. There's a picture of Maysilee and Jason, bows leaning against a tree nearby. They're lying in a meadow of beautiful spring flowers. Maysilee is stringing the flowers together in a long chain of purple, pink, and yellow.

Now I'm reminded of not only Maysilee giving her life for Jason, but of Jason giving his life for everyone here in District thirteen. Does that mean I'm next? Normally a thought like that would freak me out, but now, it really doesn't matter. I already feel like I'm in a grave.

I don't need to be the one to destroy anything. There are other people to do that. Someday District 13 is going to overthrow the Capitol, and when they do, I'm sure I'll hear about it.

**THE END**


End file.
